Emanuel Christ

A lecture by Emanuel Christ with a response by Anna Puigjaner, Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia GSAPP.

Emanuel Christ together with Christoph Gantenbein founded Christ & Gantenbein in 1998. Christ & Gantenbein is a leading architectural practice based in Basel, Switzerland. Interested in the sustainability of form, their landmark projects mix the ancient and modern in beguiling ways. The firm’s haptic approach unexpectedly challenges materials, using them in a sensitive yet versatile manner.

Their award-winning largescale renovations and expansions of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich as well as of the Kunstmuseum Basel (both 2016) cemented their position as builders of cultural space. Residential and office buildings such as the Westhof residential building in Munich (2018), the Flexible Office Building FOB Roche in Grenzach and a Mixed-use Tower in Pratteln (2016) and Opération Vaugirard social housing project in Paris, along with projects such as the Chocolate Competence Center, Lindt & Sprüngli all currently under construction. The firm recently won the competition for the renovation and expansion of the University Hospital Zurich testimony of the flexibility of their approach and their interest in handling a variety of programs and sites.

Emanuel Christ has taught at HGK Basel, ETH Studio Basel, Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio, ETH Zurich and Harvard GSD. In 2018 Emanuel Christ was appointed Full Professor of Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich. He studied architecture at ETH Zurich, EPF Lausanne, and HdK Berlin.

On the occasion of his lecture, Emanuel Christ was interviewed by Amale Andraos for our podcast series GSAPP Conversations. Listen to Episode #85: Between Ideal and Real: Architecture’s Next Generation.