Food for Architects

The lavish five-volume set of Food for Architects is dedicated to the buildings and cooking of the renowned Zurich-based firm Steib Gmür Geschwentner Kyburz Partners. As enthusiastic housing designers, they have been searching for both the perfect floor plan and the perfect spaghetti for three decades.

Volume 1 of this first comprehensive monograph on the firm’s work brings together brief personal texts on the various types of rooms in a house or apartment as well as other aspects of living. Volume 2 offers insights into the evolution and design methods of Steib Gmür Geschwentner Kyburz Partners, documenting 65 key buildings and projects from their portfolio. Volume 3 features floor plans of a total of 168 furnished apartments with concise comments, interspersed with recipes for 12 spaghetti dishes. In a photo essay, volume 4 introduces the inhabitants of 11 apartments from various realised buildings, who also speak about their homes in brief interviews. The dessert of this five-course menu is the concluding volume 5, featuring a conversation with the firm’s four partners — Jakob Steib, Patrick Gmür, Michael Geschwentner, and Matthias Kyburz—as they discuss topics that are key to their architectural work.