Students build spatial interventions at HSG
A university building in St. Gallen is enlivened with a wooden shelf and a kiosk. The project by the Professor Momoyo Kaijima and the sociologist Niklaus Reichle combines analysis, design and self-construction. And brings together architecture and economics students from ETH and HSG.
The Square building on the University of St. Gallen HSG campus was opened in 2022 to better connect people inside and outside the university. The open and transparent house was planned by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, who was a visiting professor at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich in 2017.
Buildings are often used differently than planned. Architecture students from Momoyo Kaijima's ETH professorship, together with external page economics students from the HSG, therefore carried out an in-depth study to investigate how the new building is actually used in everyday life. The basis was research by the sociologist and HSG lecturer Niklaus Reichle, which he carried out together with Grégoire Farquet from the Kaijima professorship and the journalist Oliver Kerrison. The project was supported by the Department of Architecture with an “Enabling Grant”, which supports new initiatives with start-up funding. The director of the Square building was also involved in the project.
Using social science methods and architectural-ethnographic hand drawings, the students recorded how people behave in the rooms. The finding: Many people use the new building to work on their laptop with headphones and not to get in touch with others. “In certain respects, the building functions similarly to a university library, which is primarily used for quiet study,” says Grégoire Farquet.
Based on their observations, the students designed small interventions to initiate new behaviors and activate the space differently. One group focused on the center of the atrium. To promote encounters, the members planned and built cube-shaped wooden furniture. They function as seating, as a shelf for a small self-service library or as a chess board. Stacked on top of each other, the cubes can be rolled to where they are needed in the house.
A second team of students designed a kiosk that serves as a kitchen or bar. It consists of six modules that can be combined in different ways. The kiosk can be built in or in front of the building to promote permeability to the outside. The fabric panels tie in with the rich textile tradition in St. Gallen.
At a workshop in February, to which the neighborhood was also invited, the students made and assembled the elements on site. The architect Sou Fujimoto was also present during the semester and discussed their interventions with the students. The aim of both interventions is to make the house more open and inviting. “The simple fittings made from recycled materials give the building a different expression; it appears less perfect and spruced up,” says Grégoire Farquet.
The shelving system and the kiosk will remain in the building for the time being in order to continue testing the prototypes. In May, the University of St. Gallen plans to use it for Teaching Day. This is a first success that shows the students how they can change the behavioral patterns they observe with small actions. Architecture is not static.
Building the future
Research collective Unexplored Realities, seminar for sociology, University of St.Gallen; Dr. Niklaus Reichle, craft and material: Andrea Rüeger
Business Behaviorology at Square
Chair of Architectural Behaviorology, IEA, D-ARCH, ETH Zürich, Prof. Momoyo Kaijima, assistant: Grégoire Farquet
ETH students: Isabel Ammann, Léon Bührer, Tiffanie Genilloud, Laura Kölliker, Yosuke Nakamoto, Amanda Pellizzari, Matthias Bisig, Mohamad Ali El Mawla, Daniel Kunz, Charlotte Thallinger, Quingyuan Wu
HSG students: Aron Baumgartner, Alexander Bertignol, Maximilian Breitruck, Dan Büeler, Enzo Cerminara, Louis Felber, Alina Felder, Rahel Felder, Aurelia Fischer, Yannick Fraser, Eric Haas, Simon Hoffmann, Christian Bernard Mathieu, Ben Meyer, Lukas Nick, Angela Perriard, Dominic Vomsattel, Florianne Walliser, Alain Weber
Swiss Window Journeys
On April 12th, an external page event will take place at the Never Stop Reading bookstore in Zurich about the publication “Swiss Window Journeys,” published by Momoyo Kaijima’s chair.
Rothwell Chair 2024
Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Yoichi Tamai and Momoyo Kaijima of Atelier Bow-Wow have been named the 2024 Rothwell Chair, external page the University of Sydney announced in March. They will be guests at the university for the next two years.