Bruno Marchand, Honorary Professor at EPFL, offers, through five lectures, an overview of architectural modernity in Geneva over the course of the 20th century. This course is structured around five monographic approaches devoted to architects who, through their urban and architectural thinking as well as their built works, have left a lasting mark on Geneva’s territory and urban landscape.

 

Monday 2 February:

Maurice Braillard and the early foundations of Genevan modernity

 

Monday 2 March:

The architecture of Marc-Joseph Saugey: technology and progress

 

Monday 16 March:

The architecture of Jean-Marc Lamunière: the legacy of Mies and postmodernity

 

Monday 20 April:

The architecture of André Gaillard, in the wake of Eugène Beaudouin

 

Monday 11 May:

The architecture of Georges Brera: the influence of Le Corbusier and the plasticity of concrete

 

 

Free for members - CHF 25 for non-members

Registration required. Book your place in advance.

 

 

Monday 2 February : Maurice Braillard and the early foundations of Genevan modernity

This first lecture is devoted to the extensive body of work of Maurice Braillard, who may be regarded as one of the Swiss pioneers of modern architecture, particularly in the Genevan context. Without ever submitting to the dogmatism of functionalism, Braillard developed a highly personal architectural language, positioned at the intersection of modernism and a certain form of classicism, from which he retained a sense of rigor and proportion. Serving as State Councillor and head of the Geneva Department of Public Works from 1933 to 1936, Braillard played a decisive role in promoting large-scale urban planning and in defining new forms of modern housing.

Among his most significant works are the Maison Ronde (1927–1930), notable for its unprecedented and audacious form, and the Squares de Montchoisi (1926–1933), which paved the way for new configurations of collective housing that are both open and centred. The Cité Vieusseux (1929–1931), one of the rare Siedlungen in French-speaking Switzerland, is conceived as a system of parallel “bars” and forms part of the 1935 master plan—Braillard’s visionary and seminal project for a different Geneva.