Ten years ago, Pascal Müller (*1971) and Peter Sigrist (*1970) established the architecture firm Müller Sigrist in Zurich. Samuel Thoma (*1974), the third partner, joined the firm in 2006. After winning the competition and erecting their first building, the Pentorama (2004–2007) in Amriswil, a town close to the Swiss lake Constance, these young architects gained international recognition. Instead of a wooden hall, Müller Sigrist chose to build contemporary festive architecture: a pentagonal, tent-like building that can be used for any kind of event. The exterior is clad in copper; the interior of the multifunctional community house surprises the visitor with its yellow-green coating and festive lighting.
The exhibition is entitled “Nebeneinander” (juxtaposition). The firm, consisting of 30 employees, not only focuses on specific fields of action but a great variety of architectural tasks. This demonstrates a certain pragmatism, which is quite common among young Swiss architects. Rooted in the Swiss building tradition, Müller Sigrist’s work is also characterized by the joy of experimentation and playfulness, which can be seen in their manifold formal solutions as well as in the use of color in their buildings.
With their exhibition “Nebeneinander”, a room-filling arrangement consisting of oversized photographs and sketchbooks, Müller Sigrist deliberately avoids a tour d’horizon of their buildings and projects. Instead, they present a juxtaposition of scale, program and approach within three different buildings. House Muri (2009) is a cascading building, in which a main dwelling and a secondary apartment are combined. Construction of the settlement built for the Frohheim housing association in Zurich-Affoltern, designed in cooperation with EM2N, began in 2010. The settlement is convincing not only through its positioning in terms of urban context, but also through its expressive form of overhanging balconies and spectacular color. Of course, the most famous building to date by Müller Sigrist, the iconic “crystal” of the Pentorama in Amriswil is also among the buildings exhibited.