Places without distinctive location qualities

The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites (ISOS), compiled beginning in 1973, looks back at Switzerland around 1900. The Siegfried Map (1870–1926) served as the basis for selecting these sites. It depicts a Switzerland with idyllic villages and picturesque medieval towns nestled within the landscape. Of the approximately 6,000 settlements surveyed throughout Switzerland, 1,200 were classified as being of national significance. These were to be preserved and maintained.

At the time the ISOS surveys of built environments were conducted, suburban communities had no place in this picture. They were therefore designated as “places without special locational qualities” and have been unable to shake off this negative image to this day. Suburbs are considered ugly, inhospitable, and disruptive. Consequently, the architectural development of these suburban communities was left not to historic preservation but to land-use planning. This assessment reflects the general mood of architectural skepticism prevalent in the 1970s. The oil crisis, the warnings of the Club of Rome, the European Year of Monuments and Sites in 1975, as well as the surge in construction activity and the resulting transformation of towns and villages, led to a sense of alienation from contemporary architecture. In response, architects turned their attention to historic townscapes and traditional settlement structures. The ISOS townscape surveys represent the most comprehensive and systematic project in this regard. Drawing on the 1981 ISOS surveys of Emmen, Emmenbrücke, Horw, and Kriens, the exhibition offers a reinterpretation of the photographic archive created at that time. Does a look back at the photographic inventory allow for a reassessment of the agglomeration? This examination of the inventory is complemented by a selection of contemporary architectural projects that have been realized in recent years in the municipalities around Lucerne*. These projects reveal new trends in how the phenomenon of the agglomeration is being addressed. Continuing to build in the agglomeration means understanding it as an independent settlement area and further developing its spatial qualities.

Opening: August 29, 2026, 5:00 p.m.