ArchitectureTalks 2008

From 1998 to 2002, Pontresina/St.Moritz was the meeting point for a transboundary discourse focusing on the future design of our cities. Over five years, the team surrounding Frank Joss built up a three-day annual symposium on architecture and urban planning whose reputation in the architectural world today extended well beyond the country’s borders. In early 2004, the decision was made to look for a new, more central location which would allow more leeway in the funding policy. With a new name and a new location, the Architecture Talks Lucerne took place for the first time in the Culture & Convention Centre Lucerne in 2005.

5th International Architecture Symposium Pontresina
12 to 14 September 2002

12 September 2002:
„New Architectural Concepts for the Social Integration of Minority Groups in Poor Cities.“
with Shigeru Ban, architect, Tokyo / Ramesh Kumar Biswas, architect, urbanist, Vienna, Berlin and Kuala Lumpur / Lindsay Bremner, professor of architecture and city planning at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg / Erky Wood, GAPP Architects & Urban Designers, urbanist, Johannesburg / Presenter: Maria Ossowski, cultural correspondent for German radio station SWR, Berlin

13 September 2002:
„Art and Architecture: Responsive Design Scenarios for Public Spaces.“
with Sean Griffiths, FAT, architect, London / Jeanne van Heeswijk, artist, Rotterdam / Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator, Paris / Hani Rashid, Asymptote, architect, New York / Presenter: Maria Ossowski, cultural correspondent for German radio station SWR, Berlin

14 September 2002:
„New York one year after the 11th of September: Security versus Freedom.”
with Ross Wimer, SOM Skidmore Owings & Merrill, architect, New York / Michael Sorkin, architectural critic and architect, New York / Beverly Willis, architect, artist and author, New York / Hanspeter Gschwend, author and journalist, Tessin/CH / Presenter: Kristin Feireiss, founder of Aedes Galleries in Berlin, architectural critic and art historian, Berlin

4th International Architecture Symposium Pontresina
12 to 14 September 2001

12 September 2001:
„The Thames as the Key to the Revitalisation of London.”
with Maxwell Hutchinson, architect, London / Fred Manson, Head of Urban Regeneration Southwark Council, London / Fidelis Morgan, author, London / Alfred Berger, Berger + Parkkinen, architect, Vienna / Presenter: Maria Ossowski, cultural correspondent for German radio station SWR, Berlin

13 September 2001:
„The City’s Poor Belt: Dialectics of Poverty and Nobility.”
with Sergio Benvenuto, sociologist and author, Rome / Hans Boesch, urbanist and author, Bergün/CH / Caracas Think Tank, Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumpner, architects and urbanists, Caracas / Hanspeter Gschwend, author and journalist, Tessin/CH / Presenter: Maria Ossowski, cultural correspondent for German radio station SWR, Berlin

14 September 2001:
„Movement and Mobility. New Concepts for Real and Virtual Space.”
with Thom Mayne, Morphosis, architect, Los Angeles / Winy Maas, MVRDV, architect, Rotterdam / Bart Lootsma, architectural critic, Rotterdam / Presenter: Kristin Feireiss, founder of Aedes Galleries in Berlin, architectural critic and art historian, Berlin

3rd International Architecture Symposium Pontresina
13 to 15 September 2000

„Global City Versus Local Identity“
with Atelier Bow-Wow, Momoyo Kaijima & Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, architects, Tokyo / Thomas Held, former manager of the KKL, director Avenir Suisse, Zurich / Hans Kollhoff, architect, Berlin / Bettina Köhler, art historian, Zurich / Toyo Ito, architect, Tokyo / Hans-Peter Meier-Dallach, sociologist, Zurich / Herbert Molderings, architectural critic, Berlin / Fredi Murer, movie maker, Zurich / Jean Nouvel, architect, Paris / Presenters: Frank Joss, Director of the symposium, and Christoph Doswald, art historian and journalist, Zurich

2nd International Architecture Symposium Pontresina
15 to 17 September 1999

„Bigness & Velocity. The City between Dream and Trauma.”
with Raoul Bunschoten, CHORA, architect, London / Rolf Fehlbaum, owner of Vitra, Basel / Lord Norman Foster, architect, London / Jacques Herzog, Herzog & de Meuron, architect, Basel / Rem Koolhaas, OMA, architect, Rotterdam / Mark Leonard, business consultant, London / Bruce Mau, graphic designer, Toronto / Martin Pawley, architectural critic, London / Saskia Sassen, sociologist, Chicago / Richard Sennett, sociologist, Chicago / Presenters: Frank Joss, Director of the symposium, and Benedikt Loderer, author and journalist, Zurich

1st International Architecture Symposium Pontresina
16 to 18 September 1998

„Les paradis artificiels – artificial paradises“
with Catherine Beaugrand, artist, Paris / Raoul Bunschoten, CHORA, architect, London / Borislav Curic, architect, Sarajevo / Elizabeth Diller, Diller & Scofidio, architect, New York / Lord Norman Foster, architect, London / Eva Hertzsch & Adam Page, artists, Dresden/D / Jacques Herzog, Herzog & de Meuron, architect, Basel / Jeffrey Kipnis, architectural critic, Los Angeles / Daniel Libeskind, architect, Berlin / Matt Mullican, artist, New York / Sigrun Prahl, architect, Berlin / Harald Szeemann, curator, Tessin / Alejandro Zaera-Polo, architect, London / Presenters: Bice Curiger, curator, Zurich and Benedikt Loderer, author and journalist, Zurich