Valerio Olgiati

Ever since his office was founded in 1996, Valerio Olgiati’s buildings and competition entries have been attracting widespread respect in both national and international architectural circles. Olgiati’s design process is characterized by a rigorous analysis of the individual construction task. In each project, the specific significance of the topics of location and temporality, mate- rial and structure, use and perception is called into question, reformulated, and given a radically new representation again and again. This intellectual analysis is expressed architecturally in the resolute quality of the structure, in constructional details, and in clarity of form.

The exhibition presents seven projects, using architectural plaster models on a scale of 1:33 as well as photographs and renderings. The examples are intended to show not only individual aspects of the architect’s work, such as structure and geometry, but in particular the role of the image in Olgiati’s design process. The architect’s personal musée imaginaire provides insights into his intellectual and visual models and is revealed as a decisive moment in the design process.In parallel with the exhibition, the first scholarly monograph on Valerio Olgiati is being published by Walther König Publishers, including a catalogue of works and a comprehensive bibliography.

An exhibition by Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder, Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, ETH Zürich in collaboration with gta Exhibitions and Valerio Olgiati, Flims.