Henry Dunant, born in Geneva, lived from 1828 to 1910. He was the initiator of the International Red Cross, dedicated his life to this visionary idea, and played a key role in its realization. The last eighteen years of his life were spent as a guest in seclusion at a former district hospital in Heiden, Appenzell. After extensive revitalization, a museum was established there to honor the life and work of Henry Dunant. The exhibition, conceived by Kaba Rössler and Nadine Schneider and designed by Atelier Andrea Gassner, presents a contemporary display – multilingual and inclusive. The tight sequence of rooms on the ground floor served as a framework for a coherent dramaturgical progression of themes, content, and staging.

The journey begins right at the centrally located entrance. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent – the emblematic symbols of the international committee – are not simply depicted; they are meant to be discovered. Attention is rewarded when, upon looking at the mirrors on the ceiling, the white seating cubes on red carpets transform into the well-known symbols. In the left wing of the building, we encounter spaces for encounter and multimedia dialogue. The sequence of rooms in the right wing is organized around three main topics: the vision and principles of the ICRC, Henry Dunant’s life path, and his existence and rehabilitation in Heiden. Sensually tangible key elements are placed in the center of each room, while walls and window openings are used as displays for content delivery.

Stone sculpture in the first room: Four towering stone slabs, slanted menacingly into the room, are held together by a red band, preventing them from toppling. This stylized cross is inscribed with seven key words that form the foundation of the Red Cross's principles. These words describe humanitarian values that must apply even in the extreme aggression of warfare.

Passage in the middle room: Dunant’s life was marked by both great successes and misguided paths, as well as deep crises. Four towering arches create shifts in perspective and direction within the room, symbolizing the fractures and triumphs in Dunant’s life. The installation is accompanied by a timeline, with additional information available via foldable printed materials mounted on the wall.

Room within a room: We are now in the very place where Henry Dunant, two floors above and over a hundred years earlier, became a hermit for many years. Four semi-transparent, movable fabric panels form an almost enclosed, yet walkable, interior space, making this "cocooning" experience palpable.

 The windows of the rooms offer us unusual views: key messages on translucent fabric panels, the outside world framed through colored glass as picturesque images, and monitors seamlessly integrated into the wall openings, showcasing video testimonies from credible witnesses. It is the coherent script of this focused exhibition, with its impactful scenes, and a bold, creative interpretation, that explains the museum's early success with the public, even in the first weeks after its opening. Visitors with mobility or visual impairments are also able to independently explore the exhibition in an engaging way, thanks to tactile orientation aids, audio stations, and the deliberate low hanging of exhibits.

A tree grows in the forest - wood comes from the tree - and the wood becomes a house. The wooden "woodpassage" sculpture placed outdoors in the centre of Europe exemplifies this process. With simple pictographic symbols over forty stages, it conveys the transformation from fir to house. This conversion is shown by the Atelier Andrea Gassner as cuts out of large blocks of wood, cut by cut. The result is a sensory experience; consisting of four wooden gates, 4.32 m wide, 4.32 m high and 8.65 m long, the "woodpassage" expresses a strong three-dimensional message when viewed from afar. Whilst strolling through the cheerfully illuminated passage, it becomes playful ambassador for the ecological advantages of timber construction. From tree to house! Experience the walk-in installation. An initiative of proHolz Austria, proHolz Bavaria, Lignum Switzerland Forests create a good climate and the resource wood. Through sustainable management, forestry ensures the forest habitat and the availability of wood. The forest area in Europe grows by 1,500 soccer fields every day.

Only 2/3 of the growth are actually used. Wood is available and offers a chance to change resource use. The construction sector accounts for around 40% of all resources. The use of building products made from renewable raw materials saves and secures resources for the future. About 13 cubic meters of wood were needed for the construction of these 4 gates. This amount grows back in Europe's forests in 1/2 a second. Building with wood protects our climate. The photosynthesis of the trees binds 1 ton of CO2 in 1 cubic meter of wood. Timber buildings extend carbon storage capacity and thus relieve the climate in a sustainable way.

About 13 tons of CO2 are permanently bound in the wood of these 4 gates. This corresponds to the pollutant emissions of a passenger car over 8 years.

Der Kreis spielt hier im neuen Familienzentrum der Gemeinde Nenzing eine große Rolle – egal ob es die märchenhaft anmutende Architektur mit ihren Rundbogen bei Fenstern und Türen betrifft oder das Leitsystem mit den auf Kreisen aufgebauten Piktogrammen und Elementen im Speziellen. »allesamt« nennt sich die Einrichtung. Der in einem Workshop mit dem Kunden entwickelte Name ist wohlklingend, irgendwie vertraut und transportiert das, worum es der Gemeinde geht: Die Gemeinschaft, also alle Kinder des Dorfes sind hier angesprochen, genauso wie deren Eltern. Der Schriftzug »allesamt« steht gut sichtbar an der straßenseitigen Gebäudekante platziert. Die scheinbar willkürlich gesetzten, großen und kleinen Abstände zwischen den Buchstaben entsprechen dem Rhythmus der Fassadengestaltung, machen aus dem Namen ein Logo und betonen seinen lautmalerischen Aspekt.

Piktogramme als Spiel: Für kurze, einprägsame Raumbezeichnung dienen die Namen der Gemeindeparzellen und der davon in Kürzeln abgeleitete, den Kindern bestens bekannte Abzählreim: »Be La Gu – Ro Ha Ru – Mo Ma Hei – und du bisch frei!«. Diese nur aus zwei Buchstaben gebildeten Begriffe bezeichnen die verschiedenen Funktionen der Räume im Haus. Aber erst in Verbindung mit den grafischen Zeichen werden sie für Kinder und Erwachsene leicht merkbar. Um die Aufmerksamkeit auf dieses Zeichensystem zu steigern und dem Spieltrieb entgegenzukommen, wurden veränderbare Piktogramme in Griffhöhe der Kinder angebracht. Es beginnt mit dem zentralen Verpflegungsbereich, wo bunte Scheibchen auf einem Teller darauf warten neu angeordnet zu werden, beispielsweise als Blume oder als Emoji. Bei den Schlafräumen sind es Augen, die sich schließen und öffnen lassen. Beim Raum für Sport und Bewegung ist es ein Fußball der sich drehen lässt, und bei der Oase »reiten« die Buchstaben auf Wellen.

Auf den Punkt gebracht: Der Bau ist räumlich von West nach Ost in vier, diagonal leicht verschobenen »Häusern« organisiert. Zur Orientierung sind Haupteingänge und Räume für die drei unterschiedlichen Kindergruppen in den Primärfarben Rot, Blau und Grün markiert. Die Wegleitung beginnt aber schon auf der Straße. In der nahegelegenen Unterführung machen riesige Punkte an Wand und Decke auf sich aufmerksam. Punkte finden sich zusätzlich als Bodenmarkierungen auf Gehsteigen, am Parkplatz und auf dem Weg zum Haus. 

Die signaletische Arbeit des Atelier Andrea Gassner umfasst nie nur rein visuelle oder verbale Elemente. Wie selbstverständlich fügt sich auch hier die Gestaltung des Leitsystems in das architektonische Gesamtkonzept ein, setzt einen bunten, spielerischen Akzent und erzählt damit die Geschichte eines neuen, kommunalen Lebensraums in kreativer Art und Weise weiter. Übergeordnetes Ziel ist es, die Identifikation in diesen positiven Ort für Kinder und Familien aus Nenzing maßgeblich zu fördern.

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.

Whenever lettering is to be used in a school building in order to identify rooms and help orientation, alongside the demands of the signage, a playful game with letters seems a logical option; it in this building that children first learn to read and write correctly. For the new Altenstadt elementary school Atelier Andrea Gassner literally wove the signage design together with the architecture and the tactile materials that are left in their natural state. We see letters cut out of solid ash with laser, in the form of colourful upholstered furniture or glowing yellow plexiglass with magical colour reflections – between the panes of the glazing. The Atelier developed a special typeface that is based on the method of learning how to write. The beautifully shaped upper-case letters are divided into two elements in accordance with the momentum of this method. In the seating in the large courtyard the game played with the shapes of the letters is especially effective when seen from the upper floor. The cushions for lying or sitting on and for exercising are revealed as words formed from the letters of the two words “PAUSE” (break) and “INSEL” (island). The furniture can be moved around and arranged in different ways, creating anagrams and entirely new words. As well as being recognizable from afar on account of their glowing colours the almost wall-height capital letters on the facades are also effective impact protection. The clouds of words beside the entrances to the classrooms are like ornamental wall graphics. The columns of numbers and words stacked above each other at the classrooms doors are a simple plug-in system that can be used to make different room names. This is all serves orientation and direction in and around the building but is also, quite consciously, a playful educational interaction and perception. With this design Atelier Andreas Gassner operates in both a creative and interdisciplinary way: between space and graphics, between systematics and design, between play and teaching.

In institutions such as hospitals, care facilities, or kindergartens, where cognitive abilities are limited for a variety of reasons, the emotional level is important. Atelier Andrea Gasser, which always searches for new answers to questions about how good design affects us, is currently working on an exciting approach in the area of signage. There haptics – in product design a must – seem to be a poor relation. But for the designer visual directional systems are more than markings, more than pure positioning in space. There is also an intuitive kind of orientation, which functions on an emotional level. In directional systems this is often underestimated or even ignored, says Andrea Gasser. Working in close collaboration with the architects Cukrowicz Nachbaur, a current project that focuses on the role of signage in care facilities for elderly people suffering from dementia or with poor eyesight, addresses the impact and importance of sensual stimuli in orienting oneself in space: what is left when eyesight, hearing and the ability to recognize begin to fail? How can we offer old people greater safety and orientation? The goal is to develop a new guidance system that uses the sense of touch.

The influence of haptics in signage is underestimated. Through our skin we are in permanent contact with the outside world. In a study undertaken with elderly people, including people with dementia and those with visual disability, we looked at how we can help people by introducing the element of touch to signage.

The goal is not just to show the shortest way, our aim is to understand the way. In order to make the world understandable, in our signage we develop a second level, connecting the cognitive with the emotional level. Nothing emotionalizes and convinces us more than that which we can grasp with our own hands and experience with our fingertips.
Together with the old people in the building we examined various kinds of wood, surfaces, and forms. From this study we developed handrails that help people to find their way around on the different floors and in the various parts of the building. The handrails were made and shaped by hand. The craftmanship brings the structures alive and each linear metre is unique.

For both residents and visitors in the entrance area there is an overview and a description of the different handrails. Accompanied by the text:

UNDERSTANDING THE WAY

“At my age my sight and hearing are no longer what they once were. Therefore, I rely on my hands to support me and to help me find my way around. The different structures and profiles of the handrails in this building are an immense help. I can feel with my hands where I am and therefore understand the route.”

Through its proportions and materialization, the architecture of Roger Boltshauser’s Ofenturm (Kiln Tower) is itself an exhibit. In the interior the special atmosphere of the slender, deep space that flows upwards is additionally intensified so that it seems like a narrow ravine. The tall, massive walls are made of rammed earth, the entrance door and the spiral staircase opposite it are of raw steel. The aim is to integrate the dramaturgy of the exhibition elements in the powerful building, while not competing with the ensemble. For temporary exhibitions in this space the design concept envisages thin panels, each consisting of three images, one above the other. The lowest panel leans against the wall, the middle one is fixed vertically, parallel to the wall surface, while the top one is tilted forward. This allows a good view of each of the panels, even from just a short distance away. The texts are placed opposite on smaller, but similarly shaped folded panels. Here, too, the different angles facilitate legibility and respond to the three almost six metre-tall display panels. Carefully, but with their own kind of naturalness and functionality, these design elements engage the space, becoming part of a comprehensive scenography.

The Antoniushaus in Feldkirch has been run by the Kreuzschwestern for more than 120 years. Today it is a house of different generations with a convent for the nuns, kindergarten, old persons home, hostel and nursing home. In 2013 as part of the revitalization and extension of the building, Atelier Andrea Gassner designed the signage and the safety graphics on the glass walls. The Atelier was recently commissioned to design a suitable element to mark the entrance. References for this design were the logo and the mission statement of this international religious order with a Franciscan spirituality. The existing logo is a cross form with narrow openings in a square. The cross is here a symbol of the Kreuzschwestern. The three-dimensional cross form that develops upwards on the plan of the logo conveys a new sculptural expression of the existing symbol. Where the four steel corners meet, openings are made into the vertical interior. At dusk and in the night strips of lighting shine out of these openings, in this way the sculpture extends outwards and on the ground. The founder of the order, P. Theodosius Florentini, once coined the slogan “The needs of the time are God’s will”. This sentence is at eye level in the internal spaces of the cross form. The Antiqua typeface “Swift” with its elongated serifs and emphatic letter forms creates an appropriate contrast to the raw, rusted background of Corten steel.

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.

Roger Boltshauser’s artistic work cannot be explained without referencing his architectural work, equally it is hardly possible to fully understand his architecture without considering his artistic work. Our task was to illustrate this and, at the same time, to depict his method of responding to design questions and the consistently practiced interference of architecture and art. Roger Boltshauser entrusted Atelier Andrea Gassner with the graphic-scenographic design of his exhibitions and prints. In its work, the studio spins this interplay between architecture and art further. For example, the cover of the 500-page monograph “Roger Boltshauser” is not decorated with a striking architectural image, but with one of his dominant sketches. This sketch connects to the exhibitions of Roger Boltshauser’s work: In 2021, the monograph – edited by Martin Tschanz and already out of print – was presented at the Architektur Galerie in Berlin, as were various other sketches. In the exhibition at the Galerie d’Architecture in Paris in 2022, this sketch in turn transformed the entrance into a room-sized, walk-in drawing. Architectural models stood like sculptures on mighty black pedestals. Sketches and plans were connected to each other by the same deep wooden frames, as well as by a hanging that spanned the wall. On a filigree metal shelf, selected material samples created the link between the depicted and the material. The Paris show is now moving on, if you will, to the Architekturgalerie am Weissenhof in Stuttgart. But the photographs will not simply be taken down here and hung up there again, the models and the earth samples will be reined in. No, the construction continues. Layer by layer, Stuttgart on Paris on Berlin, the places themselves become part of the history and the development of “RESPONSE”. In Stuttgart, the large-format picture panels show photographs of the photographs from the Galerie d’Architecture in Paris. But it is not just that the photographs document the previous exhibitions, but the models, sketches, and plans also expand and enrich each subsequent exhibition layer by layer with new content and perspectives. And of course the texts.