E2A Architects. Helvetic Accuracy
Having both graduated from ETH Zurich, and after a training period that saw them working for Rem Koolhaas and residing in cities like Rotterdam, Los Angeles, and Seoul, the brothers Piet and Wim Eckert (born in 1968 and 1969, respectively) returned to Zurich and set up a practice, naming it E2A. With simultaneous restraint and daring, always respecting the lessons of type yet firmly anchored in the demands of reality, their architecture combines the best of Swiss tradition – pristine geometries, attention to context, exquisite handling of materials – with the best of Dutch tradition – ironic distancing, open-minded research into programs. These characteristics are evident in the three examples that are featured in the following pages: first the Taz Neubau, a newspaper headquarters in Berlin; then the Deaconry Bethanien, a mixed-use block located in the city of Zurich: and finally Campus Moos, a secondary school in the municipality of Rüschlikon, also in Switzerland.