Gion A. Caminada / Cons, Vrin

"What interests me in my architecture is the discussion with local tradition. I simply ask myself what these old building systems can provide us. What is the essence of these structures? How can they be transformed for all the new uses that modern times require? It is always about discussion, about further development. I believe this is the core of the tradition of the whole village."

Gion A. Caminada comes in the late 1970s (together with Peter Zumthor) with specific proposals for improving the development and functioning of his native village Vrin. The place, to which his lifelong efforts are largely directed, has undergone an unprecedented transformation since then. From a small village that was economically and demographically declining, people have gradually stopped emigrating. He has built several communal buildings here, such as a community center, and modern agricultural buildings have appeared, allowing for contemporary land cultivation methods. All of this without coming into conflict with the traditional image of the village. Vrin has received a new face without having to give up its original one. Tradition and heritage are connected with new modern ideas and needs. As the first village ever, it was awarded the Wakker Prize for Swiss heritage conservation.
For Caminada, architecture also has a social role. It is “happy” and “beautiful” for him when the tension between tradition and modernity brings attractive solutions and its function is connected to the way of life.

Born in 1957 in a small mountain village Vrin in the highest part of the Alpine valley Val Lumnezia in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. He trained as a carpenter, attended an applied arts school.
After gaining experience while traveling, he studied architecture at ETH Zurich and founded his own office in Vrin, where the vast majority of his realizations also stand. Since 1998, he has been a visiting professor at ETH Zurich.

Awards: Good Architecture Award in Canton Graubünden 1994 and 2001 (Geissenalp Vrin, Segmüller residential house Vignogn, Duvin school), SAB Prize, Swiss Working Group for Mountain Regions, Bruckmann Environmental Prize Munich, Federal Prize for Free Art, Architecture Prize for Building Ecology (multipurpose hall, Vrin), Wood Construction Award - Prix Lignum (stables and slaughterhouse, Vrin 1999), -
Int. Architecture Prize "Sexten Kultur" (Vrin and the school in Duvin), Honorary Mention from the Federal Government Wakker Prize for the municipality of Vrin 1998

Projects:
Stiva da morts - funeral chapel, Vrin; 2002
elementary school, Duvin; 1995
stables and slaughterhouse, Vrin 1994-99
girls' boarding school of the Disentis monastery
Segmüller residential house, Vignogn
conversion of Casa Communala, community center, Vrin
multipurpose hall, Vrin
and more...

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