Unbuilt Architecture in Switzerland

In Basel, the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum is offering visitors a journey through an alternative version of the country's architecture with the exhibition "What if – Unbuilt Architecture in Switzerland". The show presents a selection of discarded and unwanted architectural designs that are still talked about in Switzerland today but were never built. 

Frank Gehry, The Competition, 2013, © Angel Borrego Cubero

Democratically approved architecture

Direct democracy is a unique feature of the Swiss political system. Initiatives and referendums give the people a significant say in political decisions. In the field of urban planning, this has resulted in a unique and democratically ratified architecture throughout the country. However, whether rejected in a referendum or in architectural competitions, numerous designs were so impressive that everyone is still talking about it in Switzerland today.

S AM exhibiton view „What if”, © Tom Bisig

Salon des refusés

Unrealized projects fill a long bookshelf in the exhibition that extends all the way to the end of the first room, where the documentary "The Competition" is projected onto the wall. Produced in 2013, the film portrays the competition between several world-famous architects during their participation in an architectural competition for the future National Art Museum in Andorra. This is the first time an architectural competition has been documented in such detail. The adjoining rooms evoke the atmosphere of an architectural office, where various polemic and discarded projects lie on separate desks. The rejected proposals can be viewed through the respective plans, sketches, models and presentation materials, as if the exhibition guests were architects. 

Visitors can explore rejected designs in the exhibition. © Tom Bisig 

Nationwide collaboration

In collaboration with twenty institutions exhibiting and discussing architecture, a selection of unrealised regional buildings has been made, providing a broad view of the diversity of building projects in Switzerland. A publication is available to accompany the exhibition. In addition, various discussion rounds and short lectures will be organised.