a+u Architecture and Urbanism 21:02_605

a+u February issue features the architecture office E2A based in Zurich, Switzerland. E2A, which represents architects by 2 brothers, Piet and Wim Eckert, was started in 2001. The E2A architecture dominates our eyes with their solid design of strong truss structure and clear vertical and horizontal lines. This is the result from the work of resolving contradictions caused by the diverse functions, programs, ambitions and wishes, site constraints and conditions required of architecture, as symbolically explained in E2A’s statement, before finally putting them into the form of an architecture. E2A has clear strategies, finds methodologies, but at the same time recognizes that they must not lose resilience. The solutions derived from these points, that is, architecture, are clear and simple to understand. It is as if there was no struggle…

a+u February issue features the architecture office E2A based in Zurich, Switzerland. E2A, which represents architects by 2 brothers, Piet and Wim Eckert, was started in 2001. The E2A architecture dominates our eyes with their solid design of strong truss structure and clear vertical and horizontal lines. This is the result from the work of resolving contradictions caused by the diverse functions, programs, ambitions and wishes, site constraints and conditions required of architecture, as symbolically explained in E2A’s statement, before finally putting them into the form of an architecture. E2A has clear strategies, finds methodologies, but at the same time recognizes that they must not lose resilience. The solutions derived from these points, that is, architecture, are clear and simple to understand. It is as if there was no struggle to…

Mark Lee: I would love to hear about your architectural education, perhaps starting with your studies at the ETH Zurich. I remember when I first came to the ETH in the mid-90s, the discussion was very Berlin-centric, with Hans Kollhoff and Vittorio Lampugnani on the faculty, and Berlin figures like Fritz Neumeyer very present. Then, in the following years, a generation of architects emerging from Graubünden became more prevalent, along with a constant influx of international faculty. I’m very curious to hear – what were the ethos, the ideology, and the discourse when you were there as students? Wim Eckert: When we started, it was a time defined by the emerging Ticino School of architecture. We both studied with Flora Ruchat-Roncati in our first years. There was a rational and…

Along with the drawing, the model is the quintessential medium of architectural representation. Like architecture itself, it is three dimensional, and is therefore subject to multifaceted forms of perception. Our interest in models lies in how they allow us to understand the core idea of a design in three dimensions, and how they illustrate the spatial ramifications of a conceptual decision. In essence, they exist to communicate a strategy – which, if successful, usually unlocks many more possibilities than images ever could. Particularly fascinating is the interplay between models and the 2 other central protagonists of architectural representation: the image and the plan. In principle, the 3 different media are necessarily simultaneous. No one form can be detached from the other 2; model, image and plan belong together. Because they…

Mark Lee: I would love to hear about your architectural education, perhaps starting with your studies at the ETH Zurich. I remember when I first came to the ETH in the mid-90s, the discussion was very Berlin-centric, with Hans Kollhoff and Vittorio Lampugnani on the faculty, and Berlin figures like Fritz Neumeyer very present. Then, in the following years, a generation of architects emerging from Graubünden became more prevalent, along with a constant influx of international faculty. I’m very curious to hear – what were the ethos, the ideology, and the discourse when you were there as students? Wim Eckert: When we started, it was a time defined by the emerging Ticino School of architecture. We both studied with Flora Ruchat-Roncati in our first years. There was a rational and poetic…

Along with the drawing, the model is the quintessential medium of architectural representation. Like architecture itself, it is three dimensional, and is therefore subject to multifaceted forms of perception. Our interest in models lies in how they allow us to understand the core idea of a design in three dimensions, and how they illustrate the spatial ramifications of a conceptual decision. In essence, they exist to communicate a strategy – which, if successful, usually unlocks many more possibilities than images ever could. Particularly fascinating is the interplay between models and the 2 other central protagonists of architectural representation: the image and the plan. In principle, the 3 different media are necessarily simultaneous. No one form can be detached from the other 2; model, image and plan belong together. Because they perform different…