Compared to other countries, Switzerland had a comparatively low demand for buildings that could be erected quickly and on a large scale in the first decades after the end of the Second World War. Nevertheless, pioneering construction systems and serial production techniques were developed here early on, and they attracted attention and imitators beyond the country’s borders.
The “System & Series” working group of ICOMOS Suisse was dedicated to the systematic recording and architectural-historical appreciation of building systems and system buildings in Switzerland—in order to support their preservation and make an important contribution to the conservation of system buildings from the post-war period.
The project was successfully completed in 2022 with the publication of this compendium. The results were thus made accessible to a broad public.
The “System & Series” database has been online since May 2025. It serves researchers, conservators of monuments, and anyone else interested for research into the topic.
Link to the database “System & Series“
A further collection of material on system construction in Switzerland can be consulted on site at the Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation at ETH Zurich.
The working group was initiated by André Barthel and Silke Langenberg, head of the working group since its foundation in 2015.
It was sponsored by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, the Ernst Göhner Foundation, ICOMOS Suisse, the Canton of Zurich, and the Bernische Denkmalpflege-Stiftung.
Members of the working group
André Barthel
Andreas Galmarini
Karim Ghazi Wakili
Lucia Gratz
Silke Langenberg
Hansruedi Meier
Sarah M. Schlachetzki
Tino Schlinzig
Raphael Sollberger
Thomas Stahl
Other authors and collaborators
Christine Bickel, Elin Elmiger, Rune Frandsen, Isabel Haupt, Viviane Mathis, Hans-Rudolf Meier, Anne-Catherine Schröter, Rainer Schützeichel, Corinne Spielmann, Laurent Stalder, Eva Stricker, Fanny Vuagniaux, Georg Vrachliotis, Hannah Wälti, Angela Wohleser, Helen Wyss, Lukas Zurfluh
