Bünzli & Courvoisier (Zürich)

Architectural quality unfolds to the extent that the architect makes his profession his vocation, as an inner passion guides and masters all the questions and challenges of building. This tendency really only develops with the specific task. Building as an artistic achievement becomes a central need, which often enough develops into a tale of woe in which certain parameters are constantly examined. Passion today is accompanied by perseverance, mediation and conviction. The fact that some young architects carry this professional enthusiasm gives hope that the quality of architecture will continue and that our cities - in Nietzsche's words - will continue to develop tastefully. Shortly after completing their studies, Samuel Bünzli and Simon Courvoisier came across tasks that they had mastered with talent and whose solutions they had already incorporated into their own architectural ideas. Their projects show the precision with which they activate the potential created in a given place, developing the expressive power of their own architecture. Similar to the way they use urban resources, they let the peculiarities of the materials used speak in their realization. The source of their strategies is the sharp analysis of the existing, its environment and spatial program. They elicit the solutions from them and always and naturally shape a piece of the city with their designs.

Notation by Heinz Wirz in the 4th volume of the anthology series "Bünzli & Courvoisier", Quart Verlag, Lucerne, December 2004