»Swissness Applied« is part of a larger research project that focuses on the transformation of European immigrant towns in the United States. These towns share the common aspiration of preserving and perpetuating the architectural charm of their cultural heritage to enhance the social and economic base of their community. The project contributes to the ongoing discussion on the role of imagery and cultural appropriation in architecture and urban design planning.

»New Glarus«, Wisconsin is an example of one of these towns.  Its’ architectural elements accessorize the building to create an attractive Swiss appearance for visitors. To curate the setting, the building codes describe typical elements of the »Swiss Chalet« style that evoke certain associations with familiar traditional Swiss building types. Resulting in an evolution of the buildings’ front from the 1960s’ onwards. »Wisconsin’s little Switzerland«, one of many themed towns in America, is the most advanced example of this generative form of urban mutation.

History

Spread across the American landscape are enclaves that exude characteristics of their European antecedents. Towns such as: Frankenmuth, Michigan (after Germany); Solvang, California (after Denmark); or New Glarus, Wisconsin (after Switzerland) have been culturally reappropriated by aesthetic guidelines in the building codes. Highly curated and containing imported historic forms of traditional architectural styles, they exude what we can identify as »German«, »Dutch«, »Swiss« or »Swedish« design motifs. 

New Glarus is an example of one such town. Founded by Swiss settlers in 1845, it evolved from being a dairy farming and cheese production village to a popular tourist destination. After suffering through an economic downturn, it discovered a way of survival by embracing the image of its cultural heritage, particularly traditional architectural details, to appeal to tourists. In 1950, local businessmen, some native to Switzerland, started »swissifying« their commercial building façades to appear more Swiss. 

Since 1999, the city has regulated the production of new buildings via its building codes, most notably »Chapter 118: Building Construction, Article II: Swiss Architectural Theme«, to preserve the »Swiss« aesthetic of the town. These building guidelines describe typical elements of the Swiss Chalet style that evoke certain associations with familiar traditional Swiss building types. It refers to Swiss design examples through illustrations in seven picture books and a collection of photographs and postcards. These images portray a variety of traditional chalet styles in the cantons of Switzerland, but altogether the collection simplifies many very distinct versions of »Swissness« in architecture into a composed style that is recognizable as, simply, »Swiss«.

Swissness Applied documents and projects on Article II: Swiss Architectural Theme.

Publication

Swissness Applied – Learning from New Glarus

Founded by Swiss settlers in 1845, New Glarus in Wisconsin evolved from being a dairy farming and cheese production village to a popular tourist destination. Following a grave economic downturn in the 1960s and 1970s, the community discovered embracing the image of its cultural heritage, particularly traditional architectural details, as a way of survival. Consequently, they began to change their commercial building façades to appear even more Swiss. Since 1999, the town has even regulated the production of new buildings via its building codes to preserve this particular aesthetic evoking the familiar traditional Swiss chalet style. Swissness Applied investigates the transformation of European immigrant towns in the United States, exemplified by New Glarus. It features the results of extensive fieldwork on buildings in the village as well as design projections based on the local building code and evaluates the outcomes through different representation techniques. Expert authors including Courntey Coffman, Kurt Forster, Whitney Moon, Philip Ursprung, and Jesús Vassallo contribute essays that pick up on aspects such as the role of cultural imagery and immigration history in architecture, and on Swissness as a cultural concept in particular.

Winner of the DAM Architectural Book Award 2022.

Edited by Nicole McIntosh and Jonathan Louie

Foreword by  Marc Angélil and Cary Siress

Contributions by  Courtney Coffman, Kurt W. Forster, Jonathan Louie, Whitney Moon, Nicole McIntosh, Philip Ursprung, Jesús Vassallo

Interview with  Patrick Lambertz

Curator

Nicole McIntosh MSc. Arch ETH

Nicole McIntosh and Jonathan Louie are co-Founders of Architecture Office (www.architecureoffice.org), a Swiss American design and research practice based in Zurich. Currently they hold the 2023/24 Hyde Chair of Excellence. In teaching and practice their work examines how the dissemination of imagery produces new contexts that are composites of vernacular and imported architectural elements and styles. The work investigates broader effects of this phenomenon, acknowledges associated design challenges, and reveals characteristics that create other contexts. Their recent design investigations and writing examines the transference and fidelity of the Swiss image in the buildings of New Glarus, Wisconsin. A Swiss American village that constructs its architectural identity – built with materials from Swiss and American sources, some inherited, some acquired, some repressed. The initial investigations with this topic were made through teaching (Seminar at Syracuse University in 2017). The research and design work manifests itself in form of the traveling exhibition Swissness Applied. The project received the 2020 ACSA Design Faculty Award and an Interior Design Award (Honoree) in 2019. Their book Swissness Applied: Learning from New Glarus (published with Park Books 2021/22) was a winner of the 14th annual ‘DAM Architectural Book Award’ hosted by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum.

Support

Collaborations

  • Exhibition Design

    Architecture Office

  • Exhibition Team

    Alexandra Allen, John Bryant, Philip Claghorn, Scott Krabath, Brittany Flowers

  • Fabrication Team

    Aniekan Bassey-Etuk, Vivian Cheng, Jose Coba, Turku Colak, Dylan Crean, Deena Darby, Andrea Dominguez, Logan Froebel, Nathan Gonzales, Andrea Herrada, Amber Hou, Brittany Flowers, Jerry Yan, Spencer Young, Michael Lin, Weiqiao Lin, Reide McClain, Alaina Marra, Bram Monson, Ian Mulich, Kyle Neumann, Birani Nyanat, Toluwalope Onabanjo, Tanvi Rao, Silvio Renz, Ethan Russel-Benoit, Irving Shen, Heather Skinner, Hanneke Van Deursen, Kamila Varela, Helna Zhen, Ziyan Zhou

  • Website

    Burrow, Berlin

  • Exhibition Photography

    Angelika Annen 

    Brian Griffin

    Michael Vahrenweld / Esto

    Paola Corsini

FAR Forum d’Architectures, Lausanne

Sept 1 – Oct 1, 2023

Avenue Villamont 4, CH-1005 Lausanne

www.archi-far.ch

University of Colorado Denver CAP

Aug 17 – Oct 17, 2021

UC Denver CAP

2nd floor gallery.

1250 14th Street,

Denver, CO 80202

Yale Architecture Gallery

Jan 9 – Feb 15, 2020

Rudolph Hall

180 York St

New Haven, CT 06511

 

Gallery Talk Feb 13 at 1pm

Panel Discussion Feb 13 at 630pm

 

 

Kunsthaus Glarus
Güterschuppen

Sept 21 – Nov 10, 2019

Im Volksgarten

8750 Glarus

+41 55 640 2535

office@kunsthausglarus.ch

Öffnungszeiten:

Sa & So 11 bis 17 Uhr

Mo bis Fr während den Kunsthaus Glarus Öffnungszeiten.

Infos zu Spezial-Öffnungen

und Führungen

unter 079 345 72 35

Sarup Gallery, UW, Milwaukee

Apr 12 – May 3, 2019

2131 E Hartford Ave,

Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA

Forum d’Architectures, Lausanne

Round Table
Date
September 23, 2023
Time
6:00pm
Location
Forum d'Architectures, Av. Villamont 4, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland
Moderation
Frida Grahn
Participants
Maya Alam A/P Practice // Frida Grahn, Historian USI (moderator) // Jeffrey Huang, EPFL // Oliver Lütjens, Lütjens Padmanabhan Architekt*Innen // Nicole McIntosh and Jonathan Louie, Architecture Office

The discussion will explore questions around the topic of how images of cultural reference inform the thinking of designers. What are readily available imaging types today (photographs, descriptions, drawings, new media, etc.)? How does the understanding of cultural references change over time? What are the processes for mediating their perception? What are the protocols translating imagery to building? How are images constructed? Do images have agency?

Forum d'Architectures, Lausanne

Lecture and Conversation
Date
September 01, 2023
Time
6pm
Location
Forum d'Architectures, Av. Villamont 4, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland
Lecture
Architecture Office
Conversation
with Frida Grahn

Kunsthaus Glarus Güterschuppen

Symposium
Date
September 21, 2019
Time
1:00-6:00pm
Location
Kunsthaus Glarus Güterschuppen, Im Volksgarten, 8750 Glarus, Switzerland
Moderation
Nicole McIntosh & Jonathan Louie
Participants
Jojakim Cortis & Adrian Sonderegger, Patrick Lambertz, Christian Schwager, Matthew van der Ploeg, Lando Rossmeier of Lando Rossmaier Architekten AG, Matteo Inches & Nastasja Geleta of Inches Geleta Architetti, Jeannette Kuo of Karamuk Kuo.

The Swissness Applied symposium considers the roles of Swissness, imaging swiss cultural heritage, and its’ influence on the production, understanding and effects of the built environment nationally and internationally. The ‚Swissness Applied‘ symposium invites seven architects and artists to view their work or selected works through the lens of applied ‚Swissness‘. A series of short presentations by the participants will lead to a discussion on the possibilities and challenges of built ‚Swissness‘ in the exhibit.

 

Yale Architecture Gallery

Gallery Talk
with Kurz W. Forster
Location
Yale Architecture, York Street, New Haven, CT 06511
Time
1:00pm

Yale Architecture Gallery

Panel Discussion
Date
February 13, 2020
Time
6:30pm
Location
Yale Architecture Gallery, York Street, New Haven, CT 06511
Moderation
David Turturo
Participants
Maya Alam, Erin Besler, Brennan Buck, Nikole Bouchard, Cynthia Davidson, Jonathan Louie, Nicole McIntosh, Philipp Schärer Image Architecture Place
Support
Swiss Consulate General NY

Perhaps the participants will ask whether traditions of image-architecture-place still constitute a deceptive populism. For example, do fascinations with image-place also reinforce neo-liberal class lines? Or perhaps they’ll simply ask: what is the possibility of place for image-architecture?

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Lecture
Date
April 12, 2019
Time
6:00–7:00 p.m
Location
Architecture and Urban Planning Building 126
Support
Marcus Corporation Foundation
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Buildings in New Glarus

  1. Small World Children Center
  2. Flannery’s
  3. New Glarus EMS
  4. 400 2nd Street
  5. Haus Ott
  6. Art & Soul Tattoo Gallery
  7. Albion Swords
  8. Sugar River Shoppe
  9. The Bramble Patch
  10. New Glarus Town Hall
  11. Bank of New Glarus
  12. Hawk’s Mill Wine Haus
  13. Sportman’s Bar and Grill
  14. Glarner Stube
  15. Anderson Mall
  16. Puempel’s Olde Tavern
  17. Brenda’s Blumenladen
  18. Hutch and Hide