Is it just me, or do the Swiss have a disregard, almost contempt towards their heritage buildings?
I'm in Canton Zug, and along Bahnhoffstrasse there was until recently a huge terrace of apartments dating back to around the early 1900's with all the charm you'd expect of that era, about a month ago it was completely pulled down to make way for shiny glass offices and a new Ferrari dealership.
Further up the road in the hills, a beautiful wooden farm house that looked like something straight out of Heidi was recently torn down. In it's place will be a soulless glass/concrete carbuncle that will not fit in with the beautiful moraine landscape setting.
And today on a trip to Rapperswill as you head towards the zoo there are imposing "Bau Profiles" in place that will ultimately lead to more Swiss heritage being decimated.
I can't understand the attitude. Just because Switzerland survived unscathed in WW2, they still seem to want to blot their towns and cities with brutal an unaesthetic buildings like you typically see in the Blitzed countries such as Britain and Germany.
It breaks my heart, and I just wonder if anyone else feels the same way or has noticed this architectural vandalism.
That is, by far, the thing that bothers me the most about living here.
I've seen so many beautiful buildings knocked down to be replaced by cement, steel and glass boxes, that my heart used to break a little on a regular basis.
I made myself get used to it, because there is nothing I can do about it and, mainly, because it wasn't healthy, the way it bothered me.
Well they certainly made some terrible decisions on that front in my area in the 60s and 70s. Much better now- but I suppose in large towns pressure on building area is just too great- sad and tragic even. There are quite a few on EF who think all the old buildings in Geneva should be turned into high rise towers- and that the wineyards and orchards between Geneva and Lausanne should be destroyed and replaced with same (not me!!!). I am glad I live in a historical and protected area.
Yep. Cute old style buildings which would scrub up a treat if they were afforded some care and attention to bring them back to their former glory are just flattened, like you say, and concrete boxes put in their place.
I think unless there is a "Denkmalschutz" in force, old buildings are just regarded as old-fashioned and derelict. Shame really...
Modern day Swiss architects are stuck in a time warp.
It all began back in the 1920s when people like Le Corbusier started building boxes with flat roofs and square windows and everybody was awed and they all started copying the style.
The problem is that they still haven't moved beyond square boxes with square windows to this day. The result is today that many a tin shed factory is protected as if it were Buckingham Palace, but you can tear down Victorian townhouses with impunity. The appreciation of buildings with beautiful decorations is considered a defect in one's sense of aesthetics. And it's not just buildings. Look at typical furniture shops. It al looks like IKEA just done more expensively.
It really is very sad, but it's not a typically Swiss thing. London has list many a beautiful building to unimaginative architects. Understanding aesthetics is unfortunately no longer required of architects these days. Or of city planners for that matter.
Perhaps it wouldn't bother me quite so much if the new buildings had even an ounce of... aesthetic sensibility... to their design.
I find that most newer buildings here look like factories. Even the malls here look like windowless factories. And quite often, the color schemes chosen for these newer buildings create an unsightly contrast with their natural surroundings. I suppose these architects and builders think they're being unique and creative by putting up a neighborhood of bright purple and neon orange apartment buildings, but I personally think they're an eyesore.
There is no excuse these days when building, for instance, an apartment block to make it look so ugly. Usually grey, box like with square windows.
When we lived in Geneva ( in a pretty ugly block of flats ) there was a road next to us that had some beautiful old buildings. These have been knocked down and replaced by soul less ugly concrete.
I notice now that in the UK when apt blocks are built they are usually quite attractive and usually they try to make them inviting to live in. My daughter lives on a newish estate and the houses all look different and the flats really attractive.
In the decade and a half I have lived here, I've seen too many of the beautiful buildings on either side of the Zürichsee torn down and replaced with ugly soulless concrete boxes. It's such a shame.
When I've talked about this to Swiss neighbors I was surprised to hear that most are in favor of trashing their architectural history - everyone seems to want a modern, industrial-chic, colorless box, exactly like their neighbors have. Lovely old farm houses and turn of the century buildings are 'nicht im Trend', apparently.
Actually, I'd guess the real cause is that there is little concept of 'curb appeal' here. Most people live in flats, most are renters - and so have no say about the exterior of their building and therefore give it little thought. All that matters to them is the interior. The few who own houses, even fewer who build them, simply are not accustomed to thinking about what the house looks like from the street.
To make it worse, try getting an architect to build something other than a concrete box - it's almost impossible.
A town down the road passed an ordinance some years ago banning flat roofs, in order to stave off the concrete-box-itis disease. Unfortunately, like so many laws here, that has been ignored by the well-connected developers. All the new buildings in the last five years are, you guessed it, flat roofed concrete boxes.
So sad - if it keeps up at this rate, in a few more decades Switzerland will have lost much of the 'picture postcard' appeal that is integral to it's charm.
Working is good, so factories are good, so any building looking like a factory is good, especially when it makes more money than a factory. You don't get this country, do you?
I am kidding, it's the same everywhere. The water front in Oslo makes the mooses cry. Hamburgs new harbour residential area is a tribute to the invention of sterilization. Operas built in France in the last 30 years look either like an aircraft hangar or a huge version of David Hasselhof's car with no wheels. Switzerland is a normal country. It's a big news to some people, I know. Be strong. Love.
Believe it or not, has Zürich chief architect, Karl Moser had his way in the 1930s, this would be what downtown Zürich would look like. The only things you can recognize are the bridges, the steeple of Fraumünster on the right, the police building also on the right, the Rathaus on the left and the mountains in the background.
There are still many people alive today who think it was a tragedy this man was so misunderstood.
Yikes. This is exactly what has happened to most of the cities in the US. Too little regard for the unique style that makes each place unique. Newer, bigger, shinier = better.
I agree that the charm if many Swiss villages and towns is being destroyed but on the up side we get to live in very energy efficient and excellently built properties. The UK might call for pretty looking buildings to be built but they are built so badly. The Swiss could learn from the UK on exteriors and the UK could learn from the Swiss on how to build an energy efficient house!
And I thought I moved to a more civilized country, I noticed the same thing this weekend while outdoors. There is not as much of the wooden alpine type of architecture people usually have in mind when they think of CH. What a shame, one day all cities will be alike, no personality
I actually find that the alpine style in the alpine area is largely intact. If you travel around, for example, the Bernese Oberland you see a lot of the traditional chalet style buildings, built when Adam was a lad (check out some of the dates on the facias!)
I think the scourge of the concrete boxes is more of a city/town phenomenon.