Editor’s Note:

A major survey of contemporary Swiss architecture showcasing the nation’s advanced engineering, superlative craftsmanship, and stunning natural scenery. With its Alpine peaks, crystalline lakes, and efficient cities, Switzerland has quietly become a center for sophisticated late modern architecture. Architect Peter Zumthor, a former cabinetmaker, and the firm Herzog & de Meuron produced a series of buildings at home and abroad that has paved the way for a younger generation of architects who fuse the country’s traditional materials with high-tech new tools and innovative construction methods. This book goes beyond the standard project-based survey, documenting the most important buildings of the last decade through architectural photographs that highlight the detail, volumetric play, and material experimentation of the buildings and portray them in the unique environments in which they have been designed and built. Because of their isolated locations, many of these buildings have rarely been seen before, despite having been designed by some of architecture’s leading lights. The first section presents a photographic portfolio of projects. The second section describes each of the featured buildings in concise texts and architectural illustrations.