Sorry its been so long! I’m really far behind on posting. We’ve been so busy the past few weeks! Regardless, I’ll give you the highlights of April. Easter was awesome. At midnight we baked Chocolate chip cookies for everyone at Patrick’s apartment. After everyone went to sleep I left caramel eggs on their desks in studio as a surprise from the Easter Cuckoo- the swiss believe in him instead of the Easter Bunny. Then Easter morning a group of us went to Mass and when I got back Andy Ruff had left a chocolate bunny on my nightstand and Allie Ross had made a Starburst Jellybean nest on my desk! It was legit. Then we went to Patrick’s to make Easter Mimosas with some fresh squeezed blood orange juice (Jesus mimosas).
The next few days were filled with daytrips around Graubunden and Ticino. For the first daytrip 4/5, about half of us went to Mogno to see Botta’s Chiesa San Giovanni. On Daniela’s recommendation, we stopped by Val Bavona on our way home to see the stone valley. It was gorgeous– all these little villages strung together made of nothing but sheets of stone. She says its so rocky there that they had to plant grass on top of the boulders just so that the cows would have something to eat. I collected a decent sample of rocks to help with my studio project, I jumped across a river, and I played outside in the mountains before we returned to the Villa. By the next morning, everyone woke up feeling like their sinuses had punched them in the face. Apparently pollen is a bit of an issue in Riva in the spring.
Regardless, we set out on our next daytrip 4/7. We hiked down to Viamala to see a bridge designed by Jorg Conzett. The hike was wonderful. It was a bit like being in the smokies if they were way prettier and had water that was naturally mini-golf blue. We kept driving to see a series of small chapels by Christian Kerez. Along the way, we drove past what looked like a bunch of dinosaur eggs dropped along the side of the road. It ended up being a little church. At the Bonaduz mortuary chapel I fittingly almost got stung by a bee and died. Unfortunately it was closed, and we were unable to get in so we ate lunch and then continued to the Oberrealta Chapel. Its a little (bold and italics on little) concrete chapel up a hill and pushed back against the edge of a cliff across an empty field of tilled dirt and grass. A lone set of trees sits alongside the exquisite concrete shed with its single slit of light along the back wall. When we’d spent some time there, we continued on to Chur to have a tour of Bearth and Deplazes Biology Liceo before having a firm visit with them. It was actually one of our better ones. On the way home we drove through Haldenstein to find Peter Zumthor’s house and studio. I touched it. Life goal: accomplished.
We continued our daytripping 4/9 with an adventure out to Caviano for our firm visit with Wespi and De Meuron. Jerome took us around the area to see a few of their projects. They’re absolutely awesome. I mean, their office is in a treehouse! How much more legit does it get than that? Plus their work is incredible. Really, everyone should check them out. Its all at a very small scale- lots of residential stuff in Ticino- but its really beautiful and the detailing is super refined. They did a house all out of OSB, but it was on the side of a cliff so everything had to be designed in prefab modules and airlifted in by helicopter. Awesome. Afterward we headed on to the Bellinzona area to see some work by Snozzi. It was sort of fun. I’m not that into Snozzi. After the tour, the half of the group that hadn’t seen the Botta chapel in Mogno went to check that out and the rest of us came back to Riva to sit and enjoy an afternoon skipping rocks by the lake and watching paragliders jump off Monte Generoso.
4/11 we headed out on our longer travel adventure. Our first stop was at the Congiunta Museum by Peter Markli just outside Giornico. Its a roughly constructed concrete piece in the middle of an empty field just outside of the town. It was designed to house the sculptures of Hans Josephson. The thing was beautiful. You must walk through the grassy field and around the building to get to the door, which is one large step up from ground level, the step being a plane of concrete projecting out from below the door and only large enough for one person at a time. The gallery is one shot down, divided by concrete walls with openings for doors punched out and just off center. The way the building was constructed made reference to the nature of the sculptures– it was made for them and could only ever really serve to house them, hidden away forever in the rural fields of Switzerland and veiled in a distinct otherness. I was in love. After returning the Museum key to the Bar Osteria Giornico, we made our first drive through the Gotthard Tunnel! It was awesome! The tunnel is so long that it gets three radio stations specially for it. While inside, we jammed to u2, Tina Turner, and ABBA. The Swiss seem to really love ABBA, which I simultaneously appreciate and find very funny. Bern was our final destination, but we stopped in Luzern to look at some projects by Calatrava, Gigon + Guyer, and the Pius Church by Franz Fluegg along the way. When we finally arrived in Bern, we ate dinner at our hostel and then took a walk to the Barenpark to see the Bears! They were SO CUTE!!! There were two baby bears, and they were climbing things and playing and it was adorable. We also stopped at Renzo’s Paul Klee Museum on the way in. The building was as elegant as Renzo always is, although not particularly conducive as a gallery space. However, I love Paul Klee and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yay Paul Klee!