Jean Tschumi

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Jean Tschumi (1904 – 1962) is a major figure in the history of archi­tec­ture and interior design in French-speak­ing Switzer­land.

Born in Geneva and trained at the Tech­nicum in Bienne and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Jean Tschumi is best known for his impact on European corpor­ate archi­tec­ture, bring­ing a wave of innov­a­tion during the post-war period. Through­out his work, he is defined by a strong sense of ration­al­ism and func­tion­al­ism, which he developed and adap­ted for numer­ous major compan­ies – such as Nestlé, Sandoz, and what is now Vaudoise Assur­ances – where comfort and func­tion, art and design are combined in the service of corpor­ate iden­tity and its envir­on­ment.

Inspired by the United States, he brought back to Europe new notions of space and adapt­ab­il­ity, as well as tech­no­lo­gical and mater­ial innov­a­tions. Employee comfort was at the heart of Amer­ican corpor­ate archi­tec­ture at the time : the more pleas­ant the staff’s envir­on­ment, the more product­ive they were. He adap­ted this concept, notably in the Cèdre build­ing, by adjust­ing the colors depend­ing on whether an area was a work­space or a circu­la­tion zone. As director of the new School of Archi­tec­ture and Urban­ism (EPUL) from 1943 to 1961 and pres­id­ent of the Inter­na­tional Union of Archi­tects from 1955 to 1958, he developed – along­side his profes­sional prac­tice – his commit­ment to theor­et­ical reflec­tion on archi­tec­ture. His work came to an end in 1962, but his influ­ence endures.