Jacques Schader Architect: Freudenberg 1959

A DVD (duration 65'55") and a book introduce a fascinating work of architecture: the Freudenberg High School in Zurich, Switzerland (architect: Jacques Schader, 1959). The outstanding characteristic of the complex is the multifarious communicating structure that connects the individual sections. It is strong and sensitive at one and the same time: a clearly defined square, inserted firmly but gently into the valuable wooded estate of an old villa park, resulting in a fascinating balance of concentration and spaciousness, of strictness and transparency, of a resolute sense of order and lightness. The elements: promenade ramps, layered volumes, smooth surfaces, interacting spatial sequences. The result: the tectonics of a modern acropolis. The origins of the architecture of the 1960s are articulated in this complex, in a condition in which its elements are not readily available constituents of a repertoire but genuine parts of a new whole. Book jacket.