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Cultural facilities
Exhibitions at the Institute gta
Max Frisch Archive
For the Max Frisch Archive (MFA), the main event in 2008
was a change in the archive management. On 1 July 2008,
after 27 years, the archivist Walter Obschlager handed over
the management of the archive to the historian Dr Margit
Unser. At the same time, the Max Frisch Archive became,
administratively, part of the ETH Library.
In June 2008, the Institute gta organised an exhibition in the
entrance hall of the main ETH building about the Letzigrund
architects Bétrix and Consolascio.
To mark the start of Euro 08 in Zurich, in the main hall of
ETH Zurich, the exhibitions department of the Institute
for History and Theory of Architecture (gta) presented
a monographic show and book about the architects Bétrix
& Consolascio, designers of the new Letzigrund Stadium.
This was followed in autumn by the striking contemporary
perspective of the Grisons-based architect Valerio Olgiati.
The exhibition “Jean Tschumi (1904 – 1962)” transferred to
the Institute gta from EPF Lausanne. Another exhibition
project, “Lausanne, du bleu au vert”, was also produced in
cooperation with Western Switzerland and introduced the
new m2 Metro line in Lausanne and the competition for the
gardens exhibition, “Lausanne Jardins 2009”.
Two exhibitions reflected the results of architecture competitions
for planning projects at ETH Zurich, namely for
“A New Building in Oberer Leonhard” in the centre and the
“Student Housing Science City” project, the first stage in
the construction of student accommodation on the Hönggerberg.
An interesting spatial experience came in the form of the
1:1 model of the holiday home built by Le Corbusier on the
French Riviera, the “Cabanon”, which visitors were allowed
to walk inside. A look across the border was provided by the
exhibition “Italy now?”, about contemporary architecture in
Italy, and “Brick Award 2008”, showcasing award-winning
architecture from Europe in brick.
Max Frisch in 1948 on the construction site of the Letzigraben
municipal open-air pool in Zurich, which he designed.
(Picture: Max Frisch Archive, Zurich)
Last year on its public open evening, the archive presented
archive material on the theme of “Max Frisch: how a journalist
became an author” to a wider public. Highlights of
the year included the Max Frisch Days in May 2008. As well
as a reading about “Homo Faber’s being” and a lecture on
“All the coasts in the world. Max Frisch’s push for the sea”,
the traditional walk on the Pfannenstiel also took place.
A joint end-of-season event organised by the MFA and the
Cultural Club of Bad Letzigraben rounded the season off at
the open-air swimming pool designed by Max Frisch.
Work also focused last year on initiating a number of online
projects. The introduction of a publicly accessible archive
database is intended to pave the way for a system of opening
up the archive and making new entries that meets
modern archiving standards. The inclusion of the MFA’s collection
of books in the central NEBIS catalogue will enable
a wider public to be informed about this unique reference
collection.
www.gta.arch.ethz.ch/e/flash.htm
www.mfa.ethz.ch
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