We got in the cars once again and headed toward Liechtenstein to see the Kunsthaus there. As we were driving in, Margarita said, “Oh, that’s a cool building.” We looked out the window only to find that the “cool building” was Hansjorg Goritz’s Parliament building! We got super excited, and ended up sitting outside it to eat lunch in the plaza. As we were sitting, a woman who had just come out of the building stopped to ask me what we thought of the sculpture in the plaza. I told her we were there to see the building because our professor had designed it, and she got very excited, and Bruno Jehle- a member of the secretariat, came out and gave us a tour of the interior. People in Liechtenstein are nice like Swedes. The place is absolutely stunning. Its so precise and well-detailed, and the level of quality present in the construction is ridiculous. I have a whole new level of respect for Goritz. He is a master, and you could tell that the people of Liechtenstein hold him in incredibly high regard. We got our picture taken sitting at the main table in the President’s seat to send to Hansjorg. Memorable moments: in the bathroom there’s a small window above the sink where you an look out over at the sink on the other side, the meeting rooms and offices have glazing set outside the frame along thehallway and another layer outside the frame of the room’s interior with copper blinds sandwiched between. Also, if you stand with one foot outside these rooms and look out along the columns running along the facade, the banding aligns to create a really neat hyperbolic pattern. We didn’t have time to go inside the Kunsthalle, so we just went ahead to Bregenz to see Zumthor’s Kunsthaus. It was… a definitive experience. We had 4 hours there, and I took my time. There was a video installation, so it was fairly dark but nice beause of the reflections it permitted on the polished concrete floors. I spent two hours sitting by myself on the floor in the top level watching and listening to the exhibit on John Lennon- Working Class Hero. I was completely relaxed, and time stopped. Right before we left, the museum officers let us go downstairs and walk in between the two layers of the skin. I understand now how the building is constructed. We went to the local youth hostel when the museum closed, and had veggie lasagna for dinner.
Upon waking up in Bregenz, we were all buzzing with excitement about the Therme Vals. We hopped into the cars and set out for our first destination: Appenzell, Switzerland to see the Liner Museum by Gigon + Guyer. It was snowing when we started driving, so there was a tiny bit of concern that we’d have some trouble on the smaller mountain roads, particularly the one up the Alps to Vals. When we got to Appenzell, it was still snowing, but it was actually perfectly fitting for the Liner Museum. Its silver and snakelike on the outside, its large front window poking out like a face as it crouches just above the white ground. When you go inside everything is intensely well-detailed and gleaming white, seeming to blend with the white snow visible through the large, seamless window openings– all of which consist of only one piece of glass. So everything is white, except for the dark, slate-gray floor, which is pulled back from the walls rather than dropped below them as would be typical in a gallery space. The effect is beautiful. Light diffuses in through the sky lights up above and washes the walls with a subtle glow– perfect for the watercolor was exhibition that is the museum’s current display. Thw woman working the desk liked us and recommended another museum in town. This one was inside a renovated Swiss chalet-kiln. It smelled strongly of WD-40.
Commence the drive up the mountain to Vals. You skirt the edge of a sheer cliff all the way up, but the view all around is snow and tree covered Alpine valley extending out below and rising up into mountain after mountain on the other side of the gorge. The landscape was dotted with small wooden sheds and farmhouses, and I listened to William Fitzsimmons on my ipod all the way up to the Therme. We got there right on time for our 3pm check-in and bolted from our rooms to the baths. Insert the single most amazing-incredible-awesome experience of my entire existence. It will get its own post after I return from Lausanne as I’m in a bit of a rush this morning to get ready.