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architect, Zurich/CH |
When it comes to contemporary architecture, architects Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer are amongst the first names to come to mind in Switzerland and beyond. Gigon/Guyer Architekten has rapidly become a trademark. Since their Kirchner museum in Davos (1992), they are regarded as major protagonists in the field of contemporary museum buildings. The extension of the Kunstmuseum Winterthur (1995) and the Reinhart Collection (1998), also located in Winterthur, the Liner Museum in Appenzell (1998) and the Museum Varusschlacht in Lower Saxony’s Kalkriese (2002) are proof of their ongoing engagement with this particular building task. They have further been responsible for providing the collection of concrete art brought together by Gottfried Honegger and Sybil Albers with a new space, "Espace de l’Art", near the French Riviera (2003), as well as realising a warehouse for a gallery in Wichtrach near Berne (2003).
A recurrent theme for Gigon und Guyer is the interpenetration of architecture and nature: the admixing of pigments makes the concrete cubes of the Reinhardt Collection on the Römerholz in Winterthur look like sediment; and for the training centre Appisberg above Männedorf, the architects, in collaboration with artist Harald F., chose a virulent, loud green which sets off the colours of the lawn and the flowers. Loud colours were also used when designing the lecture theatre of Zurich University. For the Kirchner Museum, they used glass in different forms, made to look like a transformation of ice crystals. Despite great formal restraint, L’Espace de l’Art Concret in Mouans-Sartoux (France) once more creates fascinating spatial diversity out of repetitive elements. Further projects are diverse housing schemes, such as a building complex in Geneva and the "Pflegi" in Zurich, as well as the train station complex in Baar (opening in 2008), the "Verkehrshaus der Schweiz" building in Lucerne (opening in 2009), an arts centre with housing and office space in the Löwenbräuareal in Zurich (opening in 2010) and what is to date Zurich’s highest high-rise building – the Prime Tower. As yet only at the stage of design, superlatives such as "exceptional" and "outstanding" are being heaped upon the 126-metre high Prime Tower in Zurich. Its opening in 2011 is eagerly awaited. More information on this project is available in the short biography of Peter Lehmann, Swiss Prime Site. >>>
Born in Columbus, Ohio, architect Mike Guyer studied architecture with Dolf Schnebli at the ETH Zurich. After graduation, he worked for the architectural practice OMA/Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam (1984–1987). In 1987, while engaged in a one-year assistant professorship at the ETH Zurich (chair of Hans Kollhoff), he founded his own architectural practice. Together with Annette Gigon, Mike Guyer has been leading the architectural office Gigon/Guyer with great success since 1989. Guyer currently holds a visiting lectureship at the ETH Zurich.
Valid as of: 27.5.2007