Modulverantwortung: Prof. Dr. Oliver Dufner
Lehrteam: Prof. Dr. Oliver Dufner, Dr. Marcel Bächtiger
Assistant: Tobias Furter

The Invention of Paradise

Architecture of Tourism in Switzerland

Perhaps tourism can best be defined by its opposite: ordinary life and the ordinary places where it takes place. In contrast, touristic places seek the extraordinary. By offering an escape from everyday working life, they function as a utopian counterworld that promises sensory pleasure and excitement, adventure, freedom – or just heavenly comfort and relaxation.
However, this paradise does not simply exist; it must be invented, conceived, and constructed. A network of infrastructures and services grants access to seemingly authentic sites, while hotels and holiday homes promise a kind of dreamlike existence. What is to become the object of the tourist’s gaze must be curated and maintained—sometimes embellished and idealised, or even reconstructed in the event of its unforeseen destruction.
In the fall semester, we will examine the architecture of tourism that has developed in Switzerland from the Belle Époque to the present day. We will approach the topic through reading seminars, guest lectures, the analysis of selected buildings, and three day trips to characteristic sites—taking advantage of the fact that Switzerland, and especially the Alpine landscape around Lake Lucerne, can be considered one of the birthplaces of modern tourism. The various inputs will serve as a basis for students to write their own paper within the framework of the topic.