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Swiss Histories: Mapping Swissness - Architecture and Its Periodicals
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:38:58
Abstract
We all live in different Switzerlands; what part does architecture play in this complexity? Through the e-periodicaplatform, Swiss journals online, the course aims to explore the Swiss media environment and to understand howit has instigated different ideas of architecture, cities, landscapes, and interiors that inform national ideas ofSwissness.
Objective
Students will: • Understand and critically question the media environment in which architecture operates; • Question the fragility of the idea of Swissness in a longer-term span; • Familiarize themselves with digital humanities tools and glimpse how these methods promote new understandings of architectural history; • Learn about lesser-known architectures and challenge the canonical idea of Swiss architectural history.
Content
Through research on the Swiss journals platform—like testing concepts, events, or places—students will present findings that will be discussed collectively. The findings will result in a digital map in which networks of architectures, places, authors, and institutions will build new Swiss architectural histories. The seminar thus aims to research buildings and foundational moments that participate in the definition of Swissness. Through periodicals, we will also shed new light on buildings that we think we know. The results will be to experience different approaches to the study of periodicals; to understand the critical analytical uses of digital tools; and to test the fragility of concepts, interpretations, and of Swissness itself, with respect to architecture and its mediation. The final grade will result from assessed presentations and the following discussions. The course is organized in three phases, dedicated to the analysis of buildings, facts, and journals that are crucial to or forgotten in the history of Swissness. The timeframe will extend from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar |
Swiss Histories: Mapping Swissness - Architecture and Its Periodicals
No course 22.3 (seminar week) as well as in the last two weeks of the semester.
|
|
2 h weekly |