GROUND is more than an exhibition of Roger Boltshauser’s work. From 24 October to 1 November 2026, SHIBAURA HOUSE in Tokyo becomes a setting for an architectural conversation about material, construction and the conditions from which architecture emerges. Conceived and curated by Roger Boltshauser together with Atelier Andrea Gassner, the exhibition is less concerned with presenting a completed body of work than with articulating an attitude towards building.

The term GROUND is deliberately ambiguous. It refers to the earth itself, but also to foundation, origin and what is already present. What exists before architecture begins? The exhibition starts from this question, shifting attention away from the finished object and towards material, context, process and the conditions that precede form.

Over the course of a week, the exhibition expands into a forum for exchange between European and Japanese architecture. Architects and designers from Japan enter into dialogue with Roger Boltshauser, bringing different cultural perspectives into conversation with shared questions about how we build today. In this way, GROUND moves beyond the format of a monographic exhibition and becomes a platform where distinct positions can meet.

Earth, surfaces and traces shape the poster series and give the visual identity an immediate material presence. The design remains deliberately restrained, allowing space for images, content and different voices. GROUND thus becomes more than a title: it becomes a shared plane on which material, architecture and discourse can meet.

Saturday, 24 October 2026
Vernissage GROUND – Community, Craft, Change
Roger Boltshauser & Andrea Gassner

Monday, 26 October 2026
Exhibition Talk with Roger Boltshauser:
Jo Nagasaka & Andrea Gassner
COMMUNITY – Architecture is about people

Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Exhibition Talk with Roger Boltshauser:
Tomoaki Uno 
CRAFT – Architecture is about Material and Knowledge

Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Exhibition Talk with Roger Boltshauser:
Junya Ishigami
CHANGE – Architecture is about the Space Between

Friday, 30 October 2026
Exhibition Talk with Roger Boltshauser:
Mio Tsuneyama & Fuminori Nousaku

The Kesselhaus once served as the energy centre of the Cham paper mill. Boilers and turbines powered production, while its distinctive chimneys made its function visible far beyond the site. Today, the former Papieri is being transformed into a new mixed-use residential and working district. At its centre, the listed Kesselhaus takes on a new role: with a restaurant, office spaces and fitness facilities, it becomes a public meeting place within the emerging neighbourhood.

The signage evolves from the building’s industrial DNA. Construction, rhythm, materiality and the recurring presence of cylindrical elements — from the former paper rolls to the chimneys — are translated into a new visual system. Circular rods made of steel and light form letters, numbers and symbols. Rather than merely referencing the architecture, the design continues its language with consistency.

On the exterior, the lettering is integrated directly into the corrugated structure of the metal façade. LED rods follow its rhythm and form the name of the building. During the day, the lettering becomes part of the façade; after dark, the Kesselhaus turns into a highly visible beacon — almost like a lighthouse for the new neighbourhood.

The same principle continues inside. Signs constructed from circular rods respond to the exposed concrete, steel and raw material character of the existing building. In this way, the signage becomes a natural part of the Kesselhaus — precisely integrated, clear in its function and closely connected to the character of the architecture.

After Osaka, the verywood installation is traveling to Tokyo. On September 9, the vernissage will take place at SHIBAURA HOUSE in Tokyo – an architectural icon by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA. It is a great honor to exhibit with verywood – Austrian Architecture Today in this unique, light-filled space. The exhibition runs until September 23, 2025.

Art objects created by Andrea Gassner

How is that even supposed to work? Presenting the astonishing renaissance of Austrian timber construction in Japan? It’s slowly making its way into international awareness: the so-called “forest-building pump” could become one of the vital lifelines in the urgent search for solutions to halt the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Andrea Gassner’s artistic intervention is tailor-made for this complex subject – and perfectly suited for presentation to the target audience of one of Japan’s most prestigious contemporary art venues. She created expansive folding objects made from slender three-layer boards, each in one of three different stages of unfolding. These nearly “floating figures” evoke the unique aesthetics and vibrancy of wood, its lightness, and the precision of assembling planar high-tech materials. It’s no coincidence that Andrea Gassner draws upon the well-known Japanese art of origami. After all, paper is ultimately derived from wood. With this formal reference, the designer establishes a dialogue between Japanese and Austrian art and culture.

Showing neither trepidation nor any form of banal showmanship the blocky new building by Boltshauser Architekten on the slopes of the hill occupied by the convent gives the existing buildings a modern stamp. The vertical plane draws its strength from the distinctive layering of the building in storeys above the plateau and the basement floors, which are visibly anchored in the slope. Through the privileged position on the plateau two almost complementary visual axes are established to the east the mountains, to the west Lake Lucerne. The design concept for finding the way around the building is based on this complementary pair and uses the semantics of the words “Berg” (mountain) and “See” (lake) to facilitate orientation in the principal directions inside the building.

These terms are subtly reflected by the typography and layout. While the numbers, symbols and lettersthat refer to the lake side are hollowedout, like vessels, those that relate to the side of the building facing the mountain are full and corporeal. On the different storeys the information about which rooms are to be found on the respective floor is mounted in two lines: the word “Berg” is placed above the line with the room numbers, whereas the word “See” is positioned below thenumbers.

A high-quality typeface family with different weights was chosen for the numbers and the lettering – ranging from the classic Antique with bold capitals to sans serif Linear Antiqua – and was used flexibly. The design is intended to reflect the dignity of this order of nuns thatis more than 150years old while also meeting the need for legibility and a contemporary aesthetic. To employ the same language as the architecture the materialisation harmonises with the canon of materials and colours used in the building. The lettering for the outdoor signage on the trass lime facades is made of sanded and galvanised iron, while inside the building the lettering, which is mounted on a variety of materials, is made of colourless matt acrylic glass. The typographical layout is generally axial and conveys a sense of calm and serenity. The plans that help you identify your location and to find your way around the building have a surprisingly unfussy and unornamented character. They resemble tabular typesetting, which, thanks to the use of lines, almost automatically transforms into a cross-section through building, while at the same time providing the overview and orientation required.

This (first) catalogue for “RESPONSE” maps Paris and is published to coincid e with the third exhibition in Stuttgart. It, too, has a multi-layered design, through reading in different directions, through large jumps in the scaling of illustrations, even through the sequence when turning the pages. This changes, in fact, depending on how the almost imperceptibly incised registers at the cutting edge are used. Texts from the last exhibitions find their place here once again. Jonathan Sergison and Jan de Vylder already reflected Boltshauser‘s work in the monograph. Alexandre Theriot wrote his text on the occasion of the Paris exhibition. They all stand for the over-arching and layered nature that Roger Boltshauser seeks in his work. While the representation of architecture is always related to the object being shown, it immediately develops its own life. Architecture is sketched in order to negotiate it, it is drawn in order to let it emerge, and what is built is finally captured in pictures in order to illustrate it. Sketch, plan, photograph, a logical sequence.