New Swiss Architecture edited by Nathalie Herschdorfer, texts by Maya Birke von Graevenitz
Thames & Hudson, 2015
Hardcover, 304 pages

One of the perks of being an editor at World-Architects is the occasional trip to Switzerland for work. Before 2012 I had made only one trip to the country, and it wasn't much of one: six hours in Zurich to see a couple of buildings (Calatrava's Stadelhofen Station and Corbusier's Heidi Weber Museum) and zipping through Basel on the way to Vitra just over the border in Germany. But in the last few years I've managed to see a great deal of great architecture in Switzerland; primarily in Zurich, where World-Architects is based, but also in Basel and the areas between Zurich and the Italian border (driving from Zurich to Venice and back is what one yearly trip entails). About a handful of the buildings I've visited are found among the 50 excellent projects gathered in New Swiss Architecture. (Note: the below photos are mine from visits to Switzerland, but bear in mind the photos in the book are much better!)
The projects are grouped into six sections by geography and typology: Alpine, Infrastructural, Recreational, Rural, Suburban and Urban. The Alpine projects are those, like the cover, that stand sometimes by themselves in contrast with the mountains the country is known for. Not all of the projects are formally striking; Miller & Maranta's Old Hospice at the Gotthard Pass is a contemporary building that also taps into the cou...