Playfully Rigid: Swiss Architecture, Graphic Design, Product Design 1950-2006

This broad selection of Swiss architecture, graphic design, and design from 1950 to 2006 demonstrates that in this context, playful humor and clarity are by no means opposites, but a highly unusual duo of qualities that mingle and interpenetrate. The question addressed by this publication is: are these examples from three professions, various regions and languages, and a period of more than fifty years bound together by a common denominator? No parade of luxury items, but talents and ideas finding material expression and clients with the courage to embrace new "inventions,” presented with examples from architecture, graphic design, and design: movie theaters, swimming pools, pedestrian bridges, gas stations, posters, journals, record and CD covers, books, web design, furniture, and the legendary TEE train (Trans-Europe Express). This publication is accompanied by an exhibition at the Kornhausforum in Bern, which then goes on to additional locations throughout the world. AUTHOR: The architect Claude Lichtenstein (born in 1949) was curator at the museum for organization in Zurich from 1985 - 2000. He is lecturer for architecture, design and environmental design at three Swiss universities of applied science.