Swisspearl Magazine #32

This issue highlights a range of projects across Europe, from the renovation of an award-winning residential building in Bulgaria to a school complex in the Czech Republic and an extension to a listed house in Slovenia. Together, they reflect the growing focus on renovation and transformation in contemporary architecture.

The issue also includes a feature on the role of corrugated sheets in architecture, tracing their development and continued relevance in building design.

The “Dune” seating collection by Austrian designer Rainer Mutsch explores the formal potential of fiber cement. Hand-formed from flexible material, the modular, curved elements create a continuous seating system that can be expanded and configured for different contexts.

Corrugated fiber cement panels combine low weight with high structural capacity. Originally developed for technical performance, the corrugated profile increases stiffness and load-bearing capability while minimizing material use.

Today, these panels are being reinterpreted in residential architecture, where their formal and surface qualities are used as a cladding element. This shift reflects a broader change in how the material is perceived and applied.

Architects using corrugated fiber cement panels today often reference these earlier, utilitarian building types. This renewed interest in straightforward, everyday materials emerged in Swiss architecture in the 1980s, as materials with industrial associations became increasingly accepted in residential design.