Architecture of Switzerland
The relative isolation of villages in the Alpine foothills, the Alps and the Jura mountains as well as different languages led to great diversity in the vernacular style.
Some of the earliest known buildings in Switzerland were prehistoric stilt houses which were built by the Pfyn, Horgen, Cortaillod and La Tène cultures between 4000 and 500 BC.
The principal Roman settlements in Switzerland were the cities of Iulia Equestris (Nyon), Aventicum (Avenches), Augusta Raurica (Augst) and Vindonissa (Windisch).
Evidence has also been found of almost twenty Roman villages (vici) established in the 1st to 3rd century AD, as well as hundreds of villas of varying sizes built in the western and central part of the Swiss Plateau.
[1] The Legio XIII Gemina, was based in the permanent camp of Vindonissa (Windisch) and Aventicum (Avenches) was the capital of the Helvetii.
Nyon and Augusta Raurica were permanently abandoned during the 4th century, the stones of their ruins serving to fortify Geneva and Basel.
To begin expanding their power into the deep forests and isolated mountain valleys, the Carolingian kings established several monasteries in Switzerland.
One well preserved example of this style in Switzerland is Saint John Abbey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was probably founded around 775 either on orders of Charlemagne or his Bishop in Chur.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, architecture in Switzerland can be roughly divided into three zones of influence, the Lombards in the south, Burgundy in the west and Germanic in the north and east, though there is significant overlap.
[8] In the Germanic parts of Europe, the ecclesiastical Romanesque style often included an apse on both the eastern and western ends of the nave, such as was shown in the Plan of St. Gall.
[8] Romainmôtier was built by Lombard trained craftsmen[10] by Odilo of Cluny around the end of the 10th century and has remained generally unchanged since then.
The cathedrals at Basel and Constance and the monasteries at Schaffhausen and Einsiedeln were all built with two symmetric square towers flanking the main portal like Cluny.
Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aediculae replaced the more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of Gothic buildings.
By the mid to late 17th century, there were a number of master craftsmen families from Roveredo, San Vittore and surrounding communities in Graubünden, who led construction projects throughout Europe.
[16] To help repair the damage of the Bundner Wirren and the Thirty Years' War, Graubünden craftsmen built numerous Capuchin hospices throughout the Canton before spreading out throughout Switzerland.
In addition to religious buildings, hundreds of country manors and city houses along with town halls, hospitals, granaries and fortifications were all built in the new style.
The idea of a shared foundation of Republicanism (the Landsgemeinde), pastoral life in alpine meadows and the legend of William Tell were all part of the Classicism interpreted in Switzerland.
[18] During this period the traditional Swiss chalet, a small house tucked away on a high alpine meadow, began to spread outside Switzerland.
Heimatstil architects included Nicolaus Hartmann in Graubünden, Armin Witmer-Karrer in Zürich, Karl Indermühle in Bern, Alphonse Laverrière in Lausanne und Edmond Fatio in Geneva.
Later they led political campaigns against hydroelectric projects and highways and in 1962 were able to include protection of natural and architectural heritage in the Swiss Federal Constitution.
It was based upon new technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel and reinforced concrete; and upon a rejection of the traditional neoclassical architecture and Beaux-Arts styles that were popular in the 19th century.
The Zurich school trained architects quickly found work across the country and the world, designing private and public buildings.
While the school initially focused on classical architecture, in 1915 Karl Coelestin Moser, an early leader in the Modern movement, was appointed a professor at ETHZ.
Both organizations encouraged close cooperation between artists, architects, designers and industry, though they differed in their approach to mass production and traditionalism.
In the 1920s he developed a style that made use of reinforced concrete to create a weightless, open space with non-weight bearing facades that could be freely designed and decorated.
[27] Under the leadership of Swiss architects including Le Corbusier, Hélène de Mandrot and Sigfried Giedion, the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) was organized in La Sarraz in 1928.
In Ticino, a group of architects including Tita Carloni, Luigi Snozzi, Bruno Reichlin, Fabio Reinhart and Mario Botta developed a style based on Functionalism and Rationalism and incorporating contrasts often with geometric designs and using local materials.
Farm houses now often contained living quarters, larders, stalls and feed storage under a single roof, but isolated by walls.
In both regions, by the 15th century, the local style had evolved into a multi-story, multi-purpose byre-dwelling with animals, fodder, storage and living quarters under one roof.
The southernmost parts of the Canton the villages are small and compact while the farms are isolated, sprawling stone and wood complexes that developed over centuries as apartments, storage and production buildings were added.
