16 May — 28 June 2014

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Betts Project presents a series of drawings by Peter Märkli from 1980 to 2013, alongside study reliefs by the artist Hans Josephsohn.

There is no hierarchy between Peter Märkli’s drawings. Each has the same status; they are ideas. They can be seen independently or together as a series – an idea or ideas in motion. Märkli states: “The important thing with these drawings is to work with elements or situations. They are for studying.” The drawings are not directly connected to Peter Märkli’s buildings. They are precursors, constituting a reservoir of forms from which he draws elements according to the buildings he is designing. 

“Sometimes you have a lot of ideas but you have to wait until the point you need them. I built a building with the memory of a drawing of a façade, I think twenty years later because then the building and the situation and the landscape and all the things around needed this façade.” Peter Märkli states.

On display alongside Märkli’s drawings are three study reliefs by the artist Hans Josephsohn. The reliefs originate from Märkli’s personal collection and have never before been exhibited. Josephsohn’s bronze sculptures, ‘semi-figures’ and reliefs focus on the human figure as a volume in space, and through them, Josephsohn sought to capture the intimacy, experience and presence of the human form. Peter Märkli has included Hans Josepsohn’s reliefs and sculptures in the facades of several houses he has designed, including Hobi House and Kuehnis House.

Peter Märkli is a Zurich-born (1953), Swiss-based architect. Like his contemporary, Peter Zumthor, Märkli has quietly accumulated widespread recognition and respect within the international architecture community. He is one of the most significant Swiss architects of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

While Märkli was still in high school, his physics teacher drew his attention to the architect Rudolf Olgiati, who would later become a friend and mentor. It was from Olgiati that Märkli learned to identify the basic elements of architecture. Later, while Märkli was studying at the ETH Zurich, he became acquainted with the sculptor Hans Josephsohn, whose studio he began to visit regularly. Josephsohn taught Märkli how to look at sculpture and painting, and joined him on many museum visits and trips to Italy. When Märkli set up his own studio in Zurich in 1978, he and Josephsohn would alternate studio visits, discussing and criticising each other’s work.  Since 1982, Märkli’s work has been influenced heavily by a trip he made to Saintonge in that year, and more recently by a tour he made of Palladio’s country villas. In 2000, alongside his own studio, Märkli began to build up an office in Albisrieden. Since 2002 he has been Professor of Design at the ETH in Zurich.

Former exhibitions of his work include those held at: Common Ground (2012), the 13th Annual International Venice Architecture Biennale; Architektur Galerie, Berlin (2008 & 2005); National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2008); Architekturmuseum, Basel (2006 & 2000); Kunsthalle, Vienna (2005); Architekturgalerie, Hamburg (2003); Königliche Kunsthalle, Copenhagen (2002); and at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London (2002).

Hans Josephsohn (Kaliningrad, Russia, May 1920 - August 2012, Zurich, Switzerland) was an East Prussian-born Swiss sculptor. He arrived in Zurich in 1938 and became a student of the sculptor Otto Müller. At the end of 1990s, Josephsohn's work began to attract a wider audience and since 2000 it has been internationally regarded. His work is on permanent view at La Congiunta, Tessin, a museum designed by his friend Peter Märkli (1992), and at Kesselhaus Josephsohn, St. Gallen.

Solo exhibitions include those held at Modern Art Oxford, UK (2013), the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2008), the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2007), the Diözesanmuseum Kolumba, Cologne (2005), The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2002).

Exhibition design: Anthropophagic Architecture.

Exhibitions

2012

- La Biennale di Venezia – 13. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura – common ground

- Gallery A4, Takenaka Cooperation, Tokyo

2008

- National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

- Architektur Galerie, Berlin

2006

- Architekturgalerie am Weissenhof, Stuttgart

- Architekturmuseum, Basel

2005

- Architektur Galerie, Berlin

- Kunsthalle, Vienna

2003

- Architekturgalerie, Hamburg

2002

- Architectural Association, School of Architecture, London

- Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden

- Königliche Kunsthalle, Copenhagen

2000

- Architekturmuseum Basel

1988

- Architekturforum Zurich

 Built projects

- Extension of Cave Fin Bec winery, Pont-de-Morge, 2012

- Headquarters building for Synthes, Zuchwil/Solothurn, 2011

- Renovation of Ungarbühlstrasse housing, Schaffhausen, 2011

- Master plan for Chantun Sur, Pontresina, 2011

- Picassohaus office building, Basel, 2008 

- House Schäpper-Blaas in Grabs, 2008

- Apartment building for Hadersdorf model housing estate , Vienna, 2007 

- Visitor-Center, Fabrikstrasse 6, Novartis Campus Basel, 2006 

- Residential and commercial building on Hohlstrasse 78, Zurich, 2005 

- Alteration of house Blaas in Städtli-Werdenberg, 2004 

- Renovation of Basel Architecture Museum, 2004

- School ‘Im Birch’, Zurich-Oerlikon, 2004 

- Alteration and extension of Sprenger apartment building in Schaan, Liechtenstein, 2004

- Rebuilding of the organ in the Basel Cathedral, 2003

- Extension and renovation of a model school by Victor Hufnagel (1969–73), Wörgl, Austria, 2003 

- House in Triesenberg, Liechtenstein, 2002

- House Märkli in Azmoos, 2000 

- House Eser in Hünenberg, 1999

- House Reith in Sevelen, 1999

- Renovation of a multi-purpose hall in Frauenfeld, 1998

- House Hürzeler in Erlenbach, 1997

- House Gantenbein in Grabs, 1995

- Apartment building in Brig, 1995

- Conversion of a farmhouse in Bad Ragaz, 1993

- Conversion of hotel staff quarters into apartments, Walenstadtberg, 1992/99

- La Congiunta, a ‘house’ for a selection of sculptures by Hans Josephsohn, Giornico, 1992

- Apartment building in Trübbach, 1988

- House Wegmann in Winterthur-Seen, 1987

- Apartment building in Sargans,1986

- House Hobi in Sargans, 1983

- two Houses in Trübbach/Azmoos, 1982

 Work in progress

- Gutstrasse housing, Zurich

- Project for 10 villas in Valadas, Portugal

- Renovation of façade, Bleicherweg office building, Zurich

- Renovation of façade, Dreikönigsstrasse office building, Zurich

- Weissacher House, Rumisberg/Solothurn

- School for the Hotel Industry, Belvoirpark, Zurich

- Palazin apartment building, Pontresina

- Hardturmpark housing, Interior of an apartment, Zurich

- Single-family house on Hochstrasse, Zurich

- Apartment building Green City, Zürich

- Rhy Tech quarters, transformation of an industrial district, Neuhausen

Awards

2012 Tageslicht – Award Ehrenpreis, Velux Stiftung

2002 Heinrich-Tessenow-Medaille

2001 Swedish Concrete Award

1997 Architekturpreis Beton

1995 Winner of the Neues Bauen in den Alpen with La Congiunta