Brera and Waltenspühl
Brera und Waltenspühl was a Geneva-based architecture firm of partners Georges Brera and Paul Waltenspühl, which existed in Geneva from 1946 to the 1980s.
Life and career
After his training at the École des Beaux Arts (Geneva) 1936-40 and then at the architecture faculty, Georges Brera (born November 27, 1919 in Geneva ; † September 25, 2000 there ) began working with Paul Waltenspühl in 1946 (born December 31 1917 in Geneva; † September 5, 2001 ibid), whom he had already met at the art college, and who had studied at the technical center in Geneva in between. In the following twenty years, this connection resulted in a number of important buildings in Swiss architectural history. Their work from this period is strongly influenced by Le Corbusier , whom they met at the CIAM Congress in 1953. Her main work from this period, which has been (and is) repeatedly discussed in the specialist literature, is the sewage treatment plant in the Geneva region in Vernier .
Brera and Waltenspühl worked intensively on urban planning, which was also the focus of their academic teaching activities: Brera taught at the École des Arts décoratifs Geneva from 1957 to 1964 and at the École d'architecture Geneva from 1968 to 1980; Waltenspühl also taught at the École des Arts décoratifs Geneva from 1955 to 1957, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne 1957–59 and Zurich 1959–71.
At a time when the agglomeration was growing rapidly, supported by the law on the development of urban agglomerations and the Lois Dupont social housing subsidy, Brera's urban development work soon led to important construction contracts in large housing developments ( Les Tours de Carouge , La Tourelle ).
Waltenspühl built a number of school buildings in the sixties, with the École des Palettes he developed a school type in a pavilion construction, which as a modular system leads to a total of six school complexes, adaptable to different situations.
Central aspects of their work were simplicity and appropriateness of the means, connected with this the structural shaping of the components and finally the application and use of polychromy. The preference for bright, open spaces is particularly evident in the school buildings.
Works (in selection)
- In office community
- Champel Stadium near Geneva, 1946–47
- Semi-detached house in Villars-sur-Ollon, 1950–51
- Geisendorf primary school , Geneva, 1954–56, 1966–67
- Eternit factory Niederurnen , Payerne, 1956–57
- Villa Maier , Cologny, 1956–58
- Tarex factory , Petit-Lancy, 1961–62, with René Schwertz
- Station d'Épuration des eaux usées d'Aire , sewage treatment plant, Vernier, 1964–67
- Piscine de Lancy , swimming pool, Geneva, 1968–69, with Pierre Nierlé
- Georges Brera
- Les Tours de Carouge , Geneva, 1959–62
- La Tourelle , residential complex, Geneva, 1965–70
- Palexpo , Exhibition and Congress Center, Le Grand-Saconnex, with Jean-Jacqes Gerber, André Leman, Jean-Marie Ellenberger
- Paul Waltenspühl
- Rue du Tir gymnasium , Geneva, 1952
- Ecole des Palettes , Grand-Lancy, 1964–67
- Primary School , Lancy, 1971-74
- Intercommunal School , Coppet, 1972–73, 1979–81
literature
- Marie-Christophe Arn and Nicole Staehli-Canetta: Brera and Waltenspühl. In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds): Architects Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century Basel: Birkhäuser 1998. ISBN 3-7643-5261-2
- Florian Adler, Hans Girsberger, Olinde Riege (HG.): Architekturführer Schweiz , Zürich: Les Editions d'Architecture Artemis exp. New edition 1978, ISBN 3-7608-8004-5
- Christa Zeller: Swiss architecture guide; Volume 3: Western Switzerland, Valais, Ticino. Zurich: Werk Verlag 1996. ISBN 3-909145-13-2
Web links
- Nicole Staehli-Canetta: Brera, Georges. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Vanessa Giannò Talamona: Waltenspühl, Paul. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Brera and Waltenspühl. In: arch INFORM .
- “Hommage à Georges Brera l 'Architecte” on the Luce Brera website