Christoph Gantenbein (*1971) studied architecture at the ETH Zurich. 1998 he founded the office Christ & Gantenbein in Basel together with Emanuel Christ, which has received numerous awards until today. Among their significant built projects are the renovation and extension of the "Schweizerisches Landesmuseum" in Zurich and the "Kunstmuseum Basel" (both 2016).
Christoph Gantenbein taught at the HGK Basel (2002-2003), at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio (2004, 2006, 2009), at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (2008), at the ETH Zurich (2010-2015) and at the Harvard GSD (2015-2017). From 2008 to 2017, Christoph Gantenbein was a member of the board of SIA Basel. Since 2018, Christoph Gantenbein has been a full professor of architecture and Design at ETH Zurich. Since 2020, he has represented ETH Zurich on the Architecture Council of Switzerland.
Colligite fragmenta, ne permeant A journey from Veneto to Naples marks the beginning of our work as architects. The personal collection of experiences, insights and photographs that emerged during this "grand tour" is the basis of our work. The architectural themes and forms captured in images reappear as fragments in our projects in the most diverse ways, explicit or subtle,direct or abstract, intentional or unconscious. Our projects are thus influenced by the architectural culture of Italy and represent an attempt to carry it forward. Studies of buildings in modern cities, from Hong Kong to Paris, Rome, New Delhi to São Paolo or Athens, which we made as part of our teaching at ETH, show how specific building types develop under complex conditions, which in certain cases can lead to a homogeneous urban structure, to a contemporary variant of the "Rome" model. Contrary to the modernist understanding of the building as an object, in these cases buildings are the building blocks of the city, the grey structure of the Nolli plan, so to speak. In the model of the type, we see the potential to overcome the unintentional fragmentation of the city as well as to reconcile the general, typical nature of a project with our individual images.
