Contextual Design – BA2 S1 2025

Le Pavillion de musique Sihlhölzli

This sequence proposes to read the Sihlhölzli pavilion not as a fixed architectural object, but as a sensitive structure, through the metaphor "Muschel ist Muskel" (the shell as muscle).The building has undergone several states of use and atmosphere, which the video approaches as a cycle composed of four phases: music, sonic saturation, abandonment, and reactivation through the body.The choice of a looped format refers to breathing, to music, and to a non-linear sense of time, where past uses continue to influence the perception of the place. In this video, architecture is therefore understood as a body that reacts to the flows surrounding it, proposing a sensitive reading of space.

By Eve Gremaud

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A House with a tree

This editorial project graphically translates the architectural approach developed by Sauter von Moos in A House with a Tree (Basel, 2013). Based on the notions of module, fragmentation, and the reciprocal activation between the existing structure and the extension, it takes the form of a journal composed of abstract typographic structures derived from the words HOUSE and TREE, transformed into modular architectural forms. Folded and placed in relation to one another, these compositions generate dynamic sequences in which each spread activates the next, echoing the dialogue between past and present established by the architects. A mini-edition inserted within the journal gathers fragments of the original text, reorganized into a narrative core. Acting as a key to reading the project, it provides access to the gestures, intentions, and ethics behind it, while connecting the abstract graphic compositions to their architectural origin. Together, the project forms an editorial device in which text and image, autonomy and interdependence, respond to and activate one another.

Sette Interventi a Monte

De la graine à l’architecture

The cycle of wood through the history of the Gässli House

This edition narrates the cycle of wood in three phases. Wurzeln Schlagen (taking root) evokes the seed and the slow growth of the tree. Verwandlung (metamorphosis) marks human intervention and the construction of the first house in 1666, when wood becomes a structural element while still carrying the memory of its origin. Gässlihuß (Maison Gässli) traces its deconstruction and reconstruction from 2019 to the present, highlighting the movement of the place and the circulation of memory.Positioned between an edition and a series of posters, the object is based on a graphic system inspired by tree rings. A grid proportional to a timeline from 1500 to tomorrow structures the whole, with texts radiating from the center in a gradual movement of zooming in and out through the different phases.

The images translate the state of the material: 165 outlined circles represent growth; a transition to gradients and then to solid circles marks the phase of metamorphosis; and archival images, screened into circular patterns, evoke movement and memory. Time thus becomes a tangible material, visually expressing the continuity of a cycle in which matter circulates and reinscribes itself over time.

Par Layana Comte

Lè Medz-vin Couâi

Jazz Campus de Bâle

After analyzing and visiting the building, I chose to develop an animation based on a central idea: in this place, architecture and jazz are inseparable. The project is intended for students, teachers, and enthusiasts of architecture and music, and aims both to inform and to spark curiosity by inviting viewers to discover the building through sound as much as through image.The tone, both informative and poetic, makes the space resonate like a living narrative. The animation draws on the acoustic modules, architectural forms, vaults, the diversity of rooms, and the inner courtyard, which are animated like a dance in response to the music.Structured in four stages, situation, learning, cooperation, and diffusion, it reveals a campus that lives, learns, and creates through jazz. Designed for learning and experimentation, this architecture forms an intimate universe nourished by music and opened to the city through the jazz club.

HOUSE WITH A TREE

This edition graphically translates the principle of renovation through layering: the existing structure is never erased, but becomes the foundation for transformations. It takes the form of a serialized journal composed of four folded sheets, creating a 16-page journal or, when unfolded, four posters. The project relies on three layers of printing. The base layer is a Swiss architecture journal from 1930, contemporary with the construction of the house, whose original layout is preserved to anchor the past. A transparent gold screen print is then superimposed without covering the underlying layer, evoking a gentle renovation. Finally, an inkjet print presents the house today and the interventions carried out.

Each half-page addresses a specific modification (roof, water, windows, etc.). For each theme, the 1930 journal is recomposed from period images and advertisements, creating a dialogue between past and present. A second navigation layer, dated 2013, materializes the overlap of temporalities. On the verso, a minimalist drawing represents each intervention. The screen print produces a subtle embossing, introducing a tactile dimension perceptible while reading. The accumulation of these prints on a single sheet thus becomes the heart of the project, directly echoing the architectural approach: building with what exists rather than replacing it.