Discovering Early Modernism in Switzerland

An insightful and engagingly narrated exploratory work on a pioneer of modern architecture from Switzerland. The Queen Alexandra Sanatorium in Davos is a masterpiece of early modernist architecture by the Swiss architects Pfleghard & Haefeli (Schatzalp, Davos) and the renowned civil engineer and bridge builder Robert Maillart. A new form of architecture was forged here, full of contradictions and compromises and the result of intense collaboration between engineer, architect, and client. It stands at the threshold of modernism, which is largely characterized by the use of reinforced concrete. Apart from certain early mentions in architectural history, very little has been written about this Swiss precursor of modernist architecture. Drawing on numerous archival records, Daniel Korwan now provides the first detailed chronology of this 1909 building, thus expanding the record on the historical reception of modernism. First publication on a Swiss building that prefigured modern architecture. Unpublished illustrations and plans of the Queen Alexandra Sanatorium in Davos. Insightful and engagingly narrated new contribution to the study of 20th century modernism.