“Svizzera 240: House Tour” wins Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale
Dietlikon, 28 May 2018 – The Venice Architecture Biennale opened its doors last weekend. This year’s Golden Lion for best national entry was won by the young Swiss team from the ETH Zurich with their project “Svizzera 240: House Tour”. As main sponsor Implenia is delighted about the award, and congratulates project team members Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg and Ani Vihervaara on their achievement. They didn’t just show a project, but actually built it. Their approach fits perfectly with Implenia’s vision: We are developing and building the Switzerland of tomorrow.
The young architectural team was commissioned to produce Switzerland’s pavilion by Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia. The four academics from the ETH Zurich decided to focus on something that doesn’t normally catch the attention: the unadorned interior space of modern residential buildings. With very few variations, modern apartments all have a ceiling height of 240 cm, with brown parquet floors, white skirting boards, white sockets, white walls, white doors, chrome-plated door handles, white windows, white built-in wardrobes and grey balcony floors. Such interiors tend to be described as “standardized” or “neutral”. However, if you take the time to think about it, this space is not at all empty; it is filled with our ideas and expectations. To bring out this engagement with the space even more strongly, the curators made rooms of different sizes, but all in proportion to the 240 cm standard height. As you go round the apartment, the rooms shrink and expand.
Implenia has supported the ETH Zurich for many years and sponsors a professorship in innovative and industrial building. This strategic partnership aims to develop new expertise in civil engineering and construction. Implenia also wants the partnership to increase the appeal of the subject, promote the training of young construction engineers and encourage the exchange of knowledge between academia and industry.
Left to right: Li Tavor, Ani Vihervaara, Matthew van der Ploeg and Alessandro Bosshard. Project team for the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, receiving the Golden Lion. (Image: Peter Klaunzer/KEYSTONE)
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Implenia is Switzerland’s leading construction and construction services company. It also has strong positions in the German, Austrian and Scandinavian infrastructure markets. Established in 2006, Implenia can look back on around 150 years of construction tradition. It brings the expertise of its highly skilled construction units together under the roof of a company active throughout Europe. With its integrated business model and specialists operating in all areas of construction, the Group can manage a building project through its entire lifecycle and deliver work that is economical, integrated and customer-centric. The focus is on striking a sustainable balance between financial success and social and environmental responsibility.Implenia, with its headquarters in Dietlikon near Zurich, employs around 10,000 people throughout Europe and posted revenue of around CHF 3.9 billion in 2017. The company is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (IMPN, CH0023868554). More information can be found at www.implenia.com.
