This monography documents the last fifteen years' work by Burkhalter Sumi Architects. Unlike earlier publications the projects presented in this volume are the result of collaboration with the firm's new partners, Yves Schihin and Urs Rinklef. This joint work creates new opportunities and raises the question of the future development of certain key themes dealt with in the study, such as the densification of urban space, the analysis of the housing typologies and research into timber architecture.
The professional exchanges are further enriched by interdisciplinary collaboration with outside specialists. Works in recent years have also been characterized by increasingly frequent collaboration with project management firms and large construction companies. In such a context of controlling of costs, with a responsible balance having to be struck between the program of intervention and the general economic conditions, the presence of clear design strategies, of soundness and efficiency on the typological and constructive plane, are indispensable factors. The goal is not the specific solution but the overall one. This volume presents mainly projects’wooden architecture, residential buildings, office buildings, hotels, redevelopment and extensions (reuse)’and a selection of projects for competitions, urban planning studies, and regeneration of highly significant industrial sites. There are also some smaller design works “bars and restaurants” and exhibition designs, the latter being partly related to Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi’s teaching at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio. A characteristic of the office’s work is in fact its exploration of broad and varied themes.