Switzerland – an Urban Portrait

Designing a new national map of urban topography for Switzerland.

The classic volume Switzerland. An Urban Portrait was published in three languages by Birkhäuser Verlag in 2005 and has lost none of its relevance to this day.

The result of several years of research by ETH Studio Basel, this three-volume work contains explorations of the multiple layers and facets of Swiss towns and cities by renowned architects Roger Diener, Jacques Herzog, Marcel Meili, Pierre de Meuron, and Christian Schmid, as well as possible and/or desirable scenarios for the future development of country’s main cities and its Alpine region. It also includes maps of urban topography.

• Leading Swiss architects examine Switzerland’s built environment
• An important contribution to the discussion of how Switzerland might look in the future
• Visionary urban topographies in a globalized world