As an architect and a passionate photographer I'm used to exploring cities from their backdoors. Whenever I visit a friend, I drag them with me to the quirkiest parts of those cities. At first it takes some work of persuasion, but when we're finally infront of a smurf-like house and I see the smile on their faces, I know we're doing the right thing.
The last visit to my brother took me to Geneva, home to the worlds largest corporations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office. While many would enjoy monumental architecture and romantic strolls on Lac Léman (which we of course did), what I opted for was rather exploring some unconventional parts of the city.
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Alice in Wonderland
Our first stop was just north of the central railway station in the Les Grottes neighborhood. After enjoying a traditional Genevan meal of Gambas a go go, we walked towards the "Maison des Schtroumphs" in Les Grottes. Staring at the satelite map the night before, I was overly excited to see this unusual housing complex in real life. As I read, the project was deliberately named by the architects Christian Hunziker and Robert Frei after the blue comic strip "The Smurfs", because of their unique attempt to attain the highest level of individuality in design. With it's inconspicuous entrance to the first courtyard on the southwest side, the complex doesn't reveal much of it's inner world. Just like Alice in Wondeland might have felt, when walking down that rabbit hole and loosing all sense of scale and appropriateness, as a visitor and likely enough as a resident too, when entering the estate, you are confronted by the sheer absurdity of this place. But first things first, walking towards the smurfs buildings is a disenchanting experience, until you pass through a group of red painted columns shaping a rotunda crowned with a flimsy steel dome and embark on a journey through scurility. One doesn't need to look far for the first signs of postmodernist quirkiness. The architects of this housing complex clearly had a counter stance against modernism, rejecting all kinds of principles shaping main stream architecture. Standardization and functionality have been wilfully overlooked in this project. I was shocked, but also fascinated by how funny and unserious architecture can be. Technical building elements like drainage pipes are formed much to the imagination of the desiners and users, following no obious logic other than bringing the rain down to the ground, while mimicking gargoyle horns. Much like Mannerist absurdity of the late renaissance era in 17th century Italy, the buildings are composed of twisted and ambiguous elements. Irregular and multi-coloured windows and twisted stone columns and spiral stairways dominate the complex and distort conventional forms and geometries.
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"City within a city"
A walk through the Cimetière de Plainpalais was one of my brothers favorites. Much to our surprise the stroll through the beautiful cemetery led us to our next finding. Bordering the west side gate of the cemetry, we walked right into the recently completed CODHA housing complex. A humble 12-storey high rise housing 113 cooperative apartments. A friendly encounter at the communally run supermarket invited us to walk into the courtyard of the complex.
