Jan 12, 2022
Secondary School Strandboden (1975-80) in Biel, Switzerland, by Max Schlup
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Secondary School Strandboden (1975-80) in Biel, Switzerland, by Max Schlup
Een bizar kunstwerk tegen een fijn stukkie brutalisme. Het kunstwerk betreft een trappetje op zo’n 30 meter hoogte tussen 2 nepdeuren, een werk uit de serie Beautiful Steps van Sabina Lang & Daniel Baumann. Het gebouw is het congrescentrum van Biel, een ontwerp uit de jaren 60 van Max Schlup.
'Stiftung für Mutter und Kind', housing building for single mothers Biel, Bern, Switzerland; 1970
Max Schlup, Rudolf Mäder
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via "Bauen + Wohnen" 25 (1971)
Secondary School (1976-77) in Kleindietwil, Switzerland, by Max Schlup. Demolished in 2013.
Within the rich Swiss postwar architectural history the Solothurn School, indelibly marked by the architects Fritz Haller, Franz Füeg, Max Schlup, Alfons Barth and Hans Zaugg, takes on a somewhat unusual role: rather than following the example of Le Corbusier and taking on a sculptural, brutalist idiom the architects leaned towards the glass and steel architecture of Mies van der Rohe. Among the five protagonists Max Schlup (1917-2013), based in the city of Biel, stands out as the most poetic yet daring architect whose major works include Miesian buildings like the Strandboden secondary school or the Mother-Child-Facility in Biel just as well as the Biel Congress Center with its large concrete surfaces and a scooped roof construction. The latter likely is a result of Schlup's excursion to Brasilia where he admired the immense construction activities and the spirited architecture of Oscar Niemeyer. In 2013 the Architekturforum Biel published the monograph "Max Schlup - Architekt/architecte" with Niggli, a beautifully designed homage to the city's most significant postwar architect. The book focuses on a selection of ten buildings, including the previously mentioned school and congress center, each of them presented in old and new photographs, plans and brief texts. This somewhat narrow focus is a bit disappointing since the work catalogue included in the back of the book counts about 100 projects. Accordingly the reader only receives a partial impression of Max Schlup's work that nonetheless manages to bring across the poetry and charme of his buildings that through extensive glazing frame the surroundings in a beautiful way. Beyond that four essays by Jürg Graser (THE expert on the Solothurn School), Martin Tschanz, Christian Penzel & Christoph Schläppi each discuss one building, shed light on their construction, materiality and try to uncover inspirational sources, a speculative dimension of Schlup's work that also a long interview with the architect cannot dissolve.
The little flaws notwithstanding "Max Schlup - Architekt/Architecte" is a beautiful and necessary book about a key Swiss architect that really is a feast for the eye.
Home for Single Mothers (1970) in Biel, Switzerland, by Max Schlup
Home for Single Mothers (1970) in Biel, Switzerland, by Max Schlup
Secondary School (1976-77) in Kleindietwil, Switzerland, by Max Schlup. Demolished in 2013.