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On a Swiss RollIt's increasingly hard to find interesting architecture that isn't mired in abstract theory, shimmering computer-generated visuals or blind devotion to big, brash, instant icons.
Modernism has evolved into an arms race, a stylistic brinkmanship that's resulted in a rash of giant structures and strange new geometries, with size and shape the only way to keep everyone interested.
But there is a new breed of architecture that's concerned first and foremost with getting the job done, on time and within budget, eschewing tricks and trademarks in favour of a hardened pragmatism that results in functional elegance regardless of scale.
Geneviève Bonnard and Denis Woeffray epitomise this modest approach.
The Swiss duo founded their office in 1990 in Monthey, a town in a flat-based valley from where the Alps rise up to snowy peaks.
Like many of their professional compatriots, they benefit from the country's liberal approach to contemporary architecture, but rather than focus on high-end villas or even the now-stereotypical 'Swiss Box' school of design, Bonnard and Woeffray are more concerned with the everyday.
By using strictly contemporary methods and materials, the duo claim to represent the modern version of that much-abused term, the 'vernacular', which is usually a backhanded way of dismissing work for being
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3/12/2005 | Viewed 13,266 time(s)
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