The Contractor as More-Than Builder: Zschokke and the Built Environment in Switzerland and Beyond, 1909–1981
Tiffanie Paré
The Contractor as More-Than Builder: Zschokke and the Built Environment in Switzerland and Beyond, 1909–1981
Tiffanie Paré
By delving into how contractors shape the culture of construction for architecture and infrastructure, this research reveals the essential but often overlooked role of the contractor. Despite the importance of contractors in coordinating, building, resolving, and financing projects, histories of architecture that look at the contractor as an actor with more agency than a mere builder are rare. By managing contracts, organizing labor, ensuring material sourcing, and coordinating their project with building codes and regulations, contractors are deeply entwined with the political economy of architecture. This management status influences industry standards and influences how architecture is practiced and produced at the local, urban, and territorial scales.
This study focuses on one of the largest Swiss construction company, Zschokke, from 1909 to 1981 (now Implenia AG) as it shaped the economic and architectural landscape of French-speaking Switzerland in parallel to its extensive infrastructural work abroad. This doctoral research critically analyzes the company’s capital, labor, and land role through architectural/engineering production by examining Zschokke’s company archive, Zschokke Construction, and Zschokke Entreprise, from the Archives Architectures HEPIA, in Geneva. Working inductively, the project intends to contribute to the study of the condition in which architecture is practiced, using the contractor as a lens to explore their agency in the building industry and society today.
The project is supported by SNSF Doc.ch PhD grant, 2024.
Image: The management committees of the National Council and the Council of States as they emerged from the Simplon tunnel on May 18, 1904, following serious problems in the main tunnel. Source: Private collection M.D., Geneva in Zschokke un nom – une renommée, by Catherine Courtiau (Infolio Éd, 2006).
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