Landistil
Landistil is a term used for a Swiss architectural and design tendency associated with the Swiss National Exhibition 1939 in Zürich and the following decade. Contemporary accounts and later histories describe exhibition buildings and related works as emphasising clarity, functional planning and modest materials, aligned with Swiss ideas of “spiritual national defence” on the eve of the Second World War.
Description
Writings on Landi ’39 and post-war Swiss building describe a restrained modernism: simple volumes, lightness, limited ornament, generous glazing and careful integration with existing urban fabric. In contrast to contemporaneous monumental classicism in parts of Europe, Swiss commentators linked the exhibition’s aesthetic with democratic modesty and technical progress.
Historical context
The 1939 exhibition was conceived as a unifying national event; over ten million visitors attended between May and October 1939. Contemporary media and later retrospectives emphasised its role in articulating “Geistige Landesverteidigung”, a concept expressing Swiss cultural resilience on the eve of the Second World War. English-language and official overviews of Swiss national exhibitions also document the Landi-Dörfli and other emblematic ensembles along Lake Zurich.
Notable examples
Kongresshaus Zürich, by the firm Haefeli Moser Steiger. Contemporary and recent sources discuss the design as a careful layering over the existing Tonhalle complex, combining new construction with historic halls, an approach frequently cited in accounts of Landi ’39.Hallenbad City. Zurich’s tourism and architectural notes describe it as a classic modernist facility refurbished to highlight the iconic glass roof and façades.Landi Chair by Hans Coray, designed for Landi ’39 and widely cited as a design icon associated with the exhibition.
Legacy
Landistil is generally identified as a Swiss architectural tendency whose focus on functional clarity, straightforward use of materials, and restrained civic expression informed aspects of post-war Swiss modernism and is referenced in studies of 20th-century architecture in Switzerland.