15 years of ‘Wege zur Architektur’

After 15 years, the ‘Wege zur Architektur’ series is coming to an end. Recently published as the final edition from FSB, Volume 13 on Tatiana Bilbao joins the illustrious collection, which got its start with Peter Zumthor and has since grown with an international selection of renowned architects. FSB published the talk with the title ‘The Play of Opposites’.

The first publication in 2003 was originally the result of a happy coincidence. Brigitte Labs-Ehlert, the founder and, until 2016, director of the high-calibre ‘Wege durch das Land’ literature and music festival in Ostwestfalen-Lippe, had managed to book Swiss architect Peter Zumthor for a talk.

Quickly thereafter, the idea of publishing his talk as a book came up in coordination with the sponsor, FSB. Since then, the ‘Architecture Speech’ has been held every year at the festival and then also published as a book.

The list of speakers points to just how prestigious the event is. After Mario Botta and Moshe Safdie, for example, Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa from SANAA found his way to eastern Westphalia in 2008 to talk about the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces and about exceeding limits.

This was followed by the two Pritzker Prize winners, Eduardo Souto de Moura and Rafael Moneo, and finally by architect Anupama Kundoo from India, whose talk was published with the title ‘Building Knowledge, Building Community’. In 2017 the honour went to Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, who spoke in the Marta Herford Museum on ‘The Architecture of Others’.

Her speech shone a spotlight on two interdisciplinary projects – the master plan for infrastructure development in the Mexican state of Jalisco and the redesign of a botanical garden in north-western Mexico – as well as on social housing development.

A profile and detailed interview also give insight into the thought processes and work of Tatiana Bilbao. ‘The most important driving force in my work are the people,’ she says, for example. This manifests itself in her projects, which build on the collective and always seek exchange and dialogue. After all, in her eyes architecture ‘cannot be designed alone’. For all of her buildings and designs, she therefore uses a new approach in each case, which has produced an extremely versatile portfolio. ‘The Architecture of Others’ shows this diversity.

Making books has already been a long tradition for FSB. The first example of this practice was no less than designer Otl Aicher over 30 years ago. The Managing Director of FSB at that time in the mid-1980s, Jürgen W. Braun, asked Otl Aicher to design a new catalogue. Aicher refused at first and urged Braun to consider what FSB’s approach and mindset was. Braun did this, and the result of this was the publication of ‘Greifen und Griffe’ one year later, followed by a series of 16 books, most of which are out of print today.

The ‘Wege zur Architektur’ series has continued this tradition over the last 15 years with a new focal point. Volume 13 featuring Tatiana Bilbao is a fitting conclusion. It is exciting to think what might come next.