Architecture Swiss pavilion in Venice commemorates architect Lisbeth Sachs
The Swiss Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice commemorates Lisbeth Sachs, one of Switzerland's first female architects. The exhibition relates her architectural approach to that of her contemporary Bruno Giacometti, who built the Swiss Pavilion in the early 1950s.
Image: Keystone
"Final form is determined by the architect on the building site" - the exhibition in the Swiss Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Biennale in Venice is named after this quote by the forgotten architect Lisbeth Sachs.
Image: Keystone
The Swiss contribution to the 19th International Architecture Biennale in Venice was curated by architects Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins and Myriam Uzor together with artist Axelle Stiefel. They commemorate the forgotten Swiss architect Lisbeth Sachs.
Image: Keystone
The Swiss Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice commemorates Lisbeth Sachs, one of Switzerland's first female architects. The exhibition relates her architectural approach to that of her contemporary Bruno Giacometti, who built the Swiss Pavilion in the early 1950s.
Image: Keystone
"Final form is determined by the architect on the building site" - the exhibition in the Swiss Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Biennale in Venice is named after this quote by the forgotten architect Lisbeth Sachs.
Image: Keystone
The Swiss contribution to the 19th International Architecture Biennale in Venice was curated by architects Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins and Myriam Uzor together with artist Axelle Stiefel. They commemorate the forgotten Swiss architect Lisbeth Sachs.
Image: Keystone
The Swiss Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia opens today, Thursday, in the presence of Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. Five curators from the Annexe group have designed the Swiss contribution.
08.05.2025, 10:01
SDA
The collective's exhibition commemorates Lisbeth Sachs (1914-2002), one of the first registered female architects in Switzerland. She created a temporary art gallery for the Swiss Exhibition for Women's Work (SAFFA) in Zurich in 1958. The curators now want to revive this in Venice under the title "Final form is determined by the architect in the building".
The five curators are focusing on the feminist approach of remembering forgotten female architects - or as Pro Helvetia, whose mandate the exhibition is being shown under, puts it: "to draw attention to the historical absence of female architects".
In dialog with the builder
Against this backdrop, the curators place Lisbeth Sachs and her architectural approach in dialog with the builder of the Swiss pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale di Venezia - Bruno Giacometti (1907-2012), the architect, son of the Impressionist Giovanni and younger brother of the artist Alberto Giacometti. Bruno Giacometti designed the pavilion in the early 1950s. The curators are now asking what would have happened if "not Bruno Giacometti but Lisbeth Sachs had designed the Swiss pavilion", according to a press release from Pro Helvetia.
The result is an exhibition that Pro Helvetia describes as a "fragmentary reinterpretation of the Sachs Pavilion". Concrete is translated into wood and the central lighting system of the original plans becomes the vehicle for a sound installation. These contain field recordings of conversations, landscapes or construction work, for example.
Architecture as an experience
Visitors will hear sounds that reveal hidden stories. In this way, they should experience a "view of architecture as a vessel for collective memory", as the curators are quoted as saying. They want architecture and landscape "not only to be viewed, but also felt and experienced", whereby they "also become participants in the exhibition".
The Annexe group includes architects Elena Chiavi from Lausanne and Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins and Myriam Uzor from Zurich. For the Swiss contribution in Venice, they collaborated with the artist Axelle Stiefel from Geneva. With the exhibition title "Final form is determined by the architect in the building", they are quoting the architect Sachs, who had noted this sentence on a plan for her art gallery at SAFFA.
The exhibition in the Swiss Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice can be seen until November 23.
