The Rule of the Game
By Christian Kerez

To define architecture by a clear set of rules serves to describe a building in a very abstract and general way. The rules used in my projects avoid buildings designed by purely aesthetical qualities like the shape of a volume or the size and proportion of an interior space. They define architecture in an abstract way beyond any question for personal taste. Rules define dogmas and principles in architecture. They help to find architectural meaning beyond any incidental building code or standard.

The conceptual models shown in the exhibition do not attempt to approach reality—they have their own reality, and they are concrete illustrations of something abstract. They help one to see the idea behind the projects. One could qualify models as conceptual layouts. In this sense, a model is an object that allows one to understand complex phenomena by simplifying them. Because of this, they are at the same time abstract and concrete, an idea and an object. They reproduce reality in an indirect manner. They offer the possibility to consider an idea in a different form: a concrete form.