Diener & Diener Architects

Book excerpt: Diener & Diener Architects, based in Basel and Berlin, is one of Switzerland's leading architecture firms. Over the past forty years, it has maintained a consistent focus on residential architecture. Even before the foundation of Diener & Diener Architects proper, Roger Diener's father, Marcus Diener, laid the roots for the firm's specialization on housing, and today, Diener & Diener is known for designs in this field with sparingly used simple patterns, typologies, and materials. Diener & Diener Architects--Housing discusses thirty designs exemplifying the firm's philosophy--a philosophy that considers the individual urban contexts for each building structure. The book features photographs, floor and site plans, as well as images and plans from the firm's archive. Drawing also on Roger Diener's collected lectures, the texts investigate Diener & Diener's own typological design process, which serves as the foundation for each project. By so doing, they give insight into Diener & Diener's long-standing success and their significance in the field of contemporary housing architecture.