Gigon / Guyer

• Price: $16.50
• Paperback—112 pages (2000)
• ISBN: 1-891197-13-4
• Dimensions: 6.5" x 9"
• © 2000The University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Gigon/Guyer, Zurich

Editor: Brian Carter and
Annette W. LeCuyer

Design: Christian Unverzagt

Sample Selection

The new museum in Appeozell, completed in 1995, is dedicated to the two artists Carl Liner senior and junior, but with the intention of gradually incorporating contemporary art as well. Carl Liner senior died in 1946; Carl Liner junior died in 1997 Both artists lived and worked in Appenzell.

The site is on the border between the small historic town and the beautiful countryside, close to a pasture and a street leading to the railway station. The plan is comprised of a series of relatively small exhibition spaces. Single rooms can be devoted to groups of works, to the different styles of father and son, and to other artists as well. In this way, a concentrated spatial, almost chapel-like mood is generated which allows visitors to enter into a direct and intimate dialogue with the different works on display. The ten exhibition rooms measure between 30 and 50 square meters each and decrease in size from south to north. Circulation from room to room meanders initially to slow down the visitor's pace, then changes to an enfilade with views into successive rooms. Additional orientation is provided by windows facing east and west and by oriel-like projections in the form of large, light spaces at each end of the building.

Every gallery has its own roof with a skylight facing north. The solid part of the roof functions as a reflector so that the walls are evenly lit at viewing height. The series of rooms, with their sloping saddle roofs seen in section, resembles the shape of a sawtooth roof. However, instead of an even rhythm, the root rises and falls in response to the varying size of the rooms. The walls of the exhibition rooms are painted white and the floor is made of cast granolithic concrete. The load bearing structure of the museum is massive, consisting of concrete and concrete block. Services are housed between the double walls.

The lobby is the biggest space and the only room with a skylight facing south, It is the place where people buy tickets, postcards and books but also where they can assemble for discussions or lectures.

The articulation of the museum as a series of small units with the attendant subdivision of the roof is designed to reflect the diversity of the art collection within and the small scale, checkered and hilly landscape of the Canton of Appeozell with its proverbially small farmhouses.

Externally, sheet chrome steei on wood rathrng is used on both the roof and the facade. On the facade, the pieces overlap like the shingles traditionally used to clad Appenzell houses. The dull color of the metal resembles the silver coloring of weathered wood on fences and old barns in the region. To prevent the roofs from reflecting sunlight directly into the north- facing skylights, the chrome has been sandblasted to diffuse light. The sandblasted metal becomes analogous to clouds, natural diffusers of light.

By using the same cladding material for the roof and exterior walls, the building volume is like a small mountain range. In contrast to the surfaces clad with overlapping metal sheets, the windows and the skylights are encased in welded steel frames which project from the face of the building. The only place where the massive concrete bearing structure of the building is revealed is at the entry.