The Swiss Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, commissioned by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, presents the exhibition ‘Endgültige Form wird von der Architektin am Bau bestimmt.’ curated by Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, Axelle Stiefel and Myriam Uzor.
In Switzerland’s contribution to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the curators ask: ‘What if Lisbeth Sachs, rather than Bruno Giacometti, had designed the Swiss Pavilion?’
Sachs (1914–2002) was one of the first registered female architects in Switzerland and a contemporary of Bruno Giacometti, the designer of the Swiss Pavilion in the Giardini of La Biennale di Venezia. It is at this pavilion that the curators aim to revive the short-lived art hall created by Lisbeth Sachs for the 1958 Swiss exhibition for women’s work (SAFFA) in Zurich, in an act of construction that points to the historical absence of women architects in the Giardini and evokes the spatial memory of lesser-known architectures.
‘What if it were otherwise? — We approach this question as a productive fiction. Juxtaposing Sachs’ work with Giacometti’s brings two architectural visions into coexistence, encouraging visitors to reflect on the need for inclusivity in architectural history and today’s practices. This intervention is not just physical but also temporal, connecting architectural legacies while engaging the visitor’s perceptions of continuity.’
The curators
Lisbeth Sachs’ approach to architecture
Lisbeth Sachs’ approach to architecture was both respectful and inclusive, engaging with available resources – not only labor and material but also natural. She was able to create spaces that fostered participation, as exemplified by her design for the Kunsthalle at the Saffa in Zurich in 1958. This project represents a remarkable example of architecture—an inclusive and innovative approach, even for its time—which greatly inspired the exhibition ‘Endgültige Form wird von der Architektin am Bau bestimmt.´ The curators carry this vision in their design for the Swiss Pavilion, creating something entirely new, yet deeply rooted in its spirit:
‘During our research, one detail that truly stood out was a drawing in which Sachs wrote: “Endgültige Form wird von der Architektin am Bau bestimmt.” (The final form will be defined by the architect on site.) This sentence resonated with us so strongly that it became our project’s title. Lisbeth Sachs explicitly identified herself as a female architect as early as the 1950s—something that strikes us as extraordinary act in our profession. It was a statement of strong independence, which we felt compelled to embrace and make our own.’
Resounding architecture
In the Swiss pavilion exhibition, the curators consider how Sachs’ vision might have influenced the design of the Swiss Pavilion today. They draw on Sachs’ approach to create a fragmented, immersive spatial memory that evokes both the aesthetic and ethical concerns of her era and their own.
The fragmentary reinterpretation of Sachs’ pavilion fosters a structural and symbolic dialogue: Concrete is translated into wood; the centralized lighting system, as it appears in the original plan, becomes an acoustic vehicle of transmission – between Sachs’ generation and today, but also between architectural and artistic concepts.
With the incorporation of a site-specific sound installation, the curators transform the pavilion into a multi-sensory experience. By reconstructing elements of Sachs’ radial floor plan and making it host to a sound system, the curators invite visitors to experience the open-ended process of a ‘resounding architecture’ that emerges when past and present voices converge. As light is turned into sound, the Kunsthalle tips into another dimension in an act of constant tuning.
‘We want to create a space that stimulates visitors’ imagination, leaving traces of our process without providing definitive answers. For us, it is essential to reintegrate voices that have been forgotten into the broader discourse. The architecture of the future, in our view, must be open, experiential, and inclusive—encouraging visitors to think and imagine.’ the curators say. ´This is what we hope to convey through our work. Rather than offering a specific answer, we aim to leave a memorable trace that reflects our open-ended process. This approach allows us to contemplate how we live and build today, how we perceive ourselves as individuals and communities, and what our responsibility is in shaping architecture in the present.‘
Connecting past to the present: Traces and Records of lived spaces
Field recordings capturing conversations, interactions, landscapes, and on-site construction, encourage visitors to listen as they navigate the space. Sound becomes a tool of immersion and translation, unveiling hidden histories and allowing the audience to engage deeply and intimately with the built environment. The non-linear nature of the installation not only connects different actors; it also allows for an understanding of architecture that transcends its role as a mere spatial structure and becomes a resonant body, alive with sound.
‘Through the sounds, memories, and stories embedded in the exhibition, the Swiss Pavilion transforms into a place of shared agency, cultivating a vision of architecture as a vessel for collective memory,’ they elaborate. ‘This auditory experience reveals a vibrant dimension of architecture and landscape, one that is felt and lived rather than solely observed, turning each listener into an active participant of the exhibition. The unfinished—or rather: the open-ended—is the realm of the poetic, where conventional ways of thinking are suspended, and a new space is imagined.’
Annexe
Annexe — Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, and Myriam Uzor — is a group of women architects who value and foreground a culture of construction which starts with what is already at hand. Acting at the intersection of architecture and performance, Annexe attaches to the existing, opening new spatial possibilities. The group uses fiction as a tool to bring to life the work of pioneering women designers, initiating a discussion with—and learning from—those who have come before us. Annexe’s work is relational, connecting the past to the present and material resources to immaterial knowledge. The group offers a vehicle for accommodating forms of collaboration and feminist building practices.
For their project ‘Endgültige Form wird von der Architektin am Bau bestimmt.’ Annexe is working with the embedded artist Axelle Stiefel.
The project team
Curators: Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, Axelle Stiefel and Myriam Uzor
For their project ‘Endgültige Form wird von der Architektin am Bau bestimmt.’ Annexe — Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, and Myriam Uzor — is working with the embedded artist Axelle Stiefel. The wider team consists of Tobias Becker (Project Coordinator), Ella Eßlinger (Grant Writer), Emma Kouassi (Graphic Design), Octave Magescas (Sound Design) and Leopold Strobl (Supporting Architect).
Biographies of the curators
Elena Chiavi (Lausanne) is an architect with diverse experience in architecture, teaching, agroecology, scenography, and communication, focusing on collaborative and inclusive projects. She explores innovative, sustainable spatial design through workshops, conferences, and hands-on construction.
Kathrin Füglister (Zurich) is an architect specialising in renovations, conceptual spatial work, furniture design and the management of process-oriented, material and site-specific workshops in the building industry.
Amy Perkins (Zurich) is an architect working in design, education, writing, and editing. She is a long-term collaborator and founding member of Assemble Studio in London, with whom she runs a second-year design course at the EPF Lausanne.
Axelle Stiefel (Geneva) is an artist embedded in various organisations. Her line of research is a textile metaphorology that questions the notion of permanence. She engages in concept development, design and consultancy.
Myriam Uzor (Zurich) is an architect specialising in conversion projects and landscape design. Teaching at ETH Zurich, she conducts research on the choreographic dimensions of architecture, cities, and gardens. She believes in a bodily approach as the foundation of spatial experience.
Partners and sponsors
Thanks to the partners:
Blumer-Lehmann AG (Rafael Gemperle, Elisabeth Naderer), Carl Meier Sohn AG, e-flux Architecture (Nick Axel, Nikolaus Hirsch), Falu Vapen Schweiz GmbH, F+F Schule für Kunst und Design, gta Archiv (Irina Davidovici), gta Verlag (Jennifer Bartmess, Ursula Bein, Moritz Gleich, Vinzenz Meyner, Thomas Skelton-Robinson, Ulrike Steiner), Jakob Rope Systems (Fabian Graber, Jann Mathys), Kunstgiesserei St.Gallen AG (Moritz Lehner), Neuco AG, prototyp.work (Stephan Töngi), Rebiennale (R3B) s.r.l., Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure (Lorenz Kobel, Jan Stebler), Silent Gliss, Tisca Tischhauser AG (Daniela Seifert, Domenica Tischhauser), Tweaklab AG (Kaspar Hochuli)
Sponsored by:
AGA – Association Genevoise d’architectes, Swisslos-Fonds Kanton Aargau, Amstein + Walthert AG, Boltshauser Architekten AG, BSA, BSLA, Caruso St John Architects, Stiftung Corymbo, Stiftung für Erforschung der Frauenarbeit, Departement Architektur ETH Zürich, Gigon Guyer Partner Architekten, Canton de Genève, Ville de Genève, Gruner AG, Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Ikea Stiftung Schweiz, Jaeger Coneco AG, Laufen, Müller Sigrist Architekten AG, PAF – Performing Arts Fund, Schmidlin Architekten, Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure AG, SIA, Fondation Sotto Voce, Kanton St. Gallen Kulturförderung Swisslos, Canton de Vaud, Finanzdepartement der Stadt Zürich
Media partners:
Hochparterre, Kunstbulletin
Acknowledgments
The curators wish to express their gratitude to the many private donors and individuals who sup-ported the project: 6a architects, Vera Bay-Sachs and Carola Sachs, Christine Binswanger, Bivgrafik, Verena Brunner and François Renaud, Alexa den Hartog, Dieter Dietz, Victoria Easton, FAZ archtectes, Felix Lehner and Katalin Deér, Daniel Ganz, Simone Kost, Elisabeth and Peter Märkli, Valérie Ortlieb, Annette Spiro, Fabienne and Friedrich Stiefel, Annelies Stoffel, Severin Stucky, Brigitte Zünd, and Peter Zünd.
The research of Rahel Hartmann Schweizer, along with the Sachs archive at the gta Archive at ETH Zurich, has been invaluable to Annexe’s understanding and contextualization of this particular work. Thanks to Annemarie Bucher, Rike Felka, Rahel Hartmann Schweizer, Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk, Kate Lacey, and Emma McCormick Goodhart for their significant writing and research.
A big thank you to Yasmin Afshar and Gabrielle Schaad for hosting a conversation as part of Le Foyer – In Process, and to Katalin Deér for contributing a beautiful edition Kleiner Grundriss (Lisbeth Sachs) 2017/2024.
Special thanks to Estelle Balet and Gaby Lehner, who helped building the foundations for this project, as well as to Tobias Becker, Ella Eßlinger, Emma Kouassi, and Octave Magescas, whose dedication extended far beyond their defined roles.
Finally, a heartfelt thanks to Moritz Lehner, Tibo Smith, Leopold Strobl, and Jeremy Waterfield for their continuous and unwavering support.
Pro Helvetia Biennale event sponsors are Ticinowine, Swiss Wine Valais, Impronta snc / Casa Capellari, Rita Erster Venezia, Tecnoluci S.r.l.
The selection procedure and the jury
The selection was made in a two-stage process. First, a group of five national and international experts recommended suitable individuals and teams. They were invited by Pro Helvetia to submit a concept for the design of an exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion to the jury. In the second stage, nine project ideas were subsequently assessed by the jury in a two-step competition.
The jury consisted of Anna Heringer (Laufen/Germany), Barbara Holzer (Zurich/Switzerland), Torsten Lange (Lucerne/Switzerland), Charlotte Malterre-Barthes (Lausanne/Switzerland) and Evelyn Steiner (Zurich/Switzerland).
Supporting events and publications
The exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion will be accompanied by a parallel program taking place both within the pavilion and at other venues. This year, Pavilion Days will take place in October and along with several other national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, the Swiss Pavilion will collaborate to host a series of public events scheduled for 9 and 10 October. Coinciding with the Pavilion Days, the Swiss Pavilion will also organise the very first Lisbeth Sachs Convention on 10 and 11 October. Further details on the events will be announced in late spring 2025.
Accompanying the Swiss Pavilion exhibition, Lisbeth Sachs: Animate Architecture will be published by gta Verlag Zurich. This book is the English translation of Lisbeth Sachs: Architektin. Forscherin. Publizistin by Rahel Hartmann Schweizer and includes a new foreword by Annexe.
Phantasma is a collaboration between e-flux Architecture and the Swiss Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia curated by Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, Axelle Stiefel, and Myriam Uzor. With the start of the exhibition, a series of essays will be published sequentially on e-flux Architecture.
www.e-flux.com/architecture
Curators
Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, Axelle Stiefel and Myriam Uzor
Commissioner
Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia: Sandi Paucic, Rachele Giudici Legittimo
Exhibition dates
10 May – 23 November 2025
Pre-Opening
8 – 9 May 2025
Official opening
Thursday, 8 May 2025 at 2pm
Media moment
Friday, 9 May 2025 at 10.15am
Registration form
Location
Swiss Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale di Venezia
Media information
The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia
Ursula Pfander
+41 44 267 71 30 | upfander@prohelvetia.ch
International Media Relations: Pickles PR
Zeynep Seyhun
+39 349 003 4359 | zeynep@picklespr.com
Costanza Savelloni
+39 333 4955 666 | costanza@picklespr.com
