Overview

Committee on Design

The AIA Committee on Design International Conference in Switzerland is second in a two-part conference series about innovation in architecture, infrastructure, and technology, following the first in San Francisco and Silicon Valley this past Spring. The Fall 2019 program will explore innovation in all aspects of the built environment in Switzerland, the country that ranks number one on global innovation indexes.

Switzerland is known for its superb infrastructure and richness of architectural objects. There will be tours of the nnovative works by Swiss architects like Le Corbusier, Herzog & de Meuron, and Peter Zumthor, as well as work by renowned international firms, including projects on Novartis, Vitra, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) campuses. An excursion to Mount Pilatus will provide a spectacular experience of the landscape and infrastructure Switzerland is famous for, while an add-on tour will offer a stay at the mystifying Vals Therme Spa and visit to Zumthor’s Studio in Haldenstein.

How does the ‘slow and steady approach’ to innovation in Switzerland compare to the ‘disruptive approach’ of the American dream? This multi-city, traveling-conference program will focus a new lens on the image of innovation.