The exhibition "Die Schweiz: Ein Abriss", curated by Countdown 2030, was on display from September 3, 2022 to October 23, 2022 at the Swiss Architecture Museum (S AM) in Basel. The exhibition highlighted various aspects of the demolition issue and showed the complex network of dependencies in which Swiss demolition is entangled. Five different demolition worlds made the topic tangible for exhibition visitors in all its diversity. At the same time, the comprehensive supporting program and activities outside the museum reached a large number of people. The number of visitors and positive feedback, the great media response and inquiries for possible new exhibition locations throughout Switzerland showed how much the exhibition had moved. Some of the actions launched as part of the exhibition extend beyond the exhibition and have already been adapted and further developed by other institutions.

“Die Schweiz: Ein Abriss“ Online Aussstellung
for everyone that missed the exhibition: we made an online version.

Why an exhibition about demolition?
The construction industry is responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions and 84% of waste in Switzerland. Every second, over 500kg of construction waste is generated by demolition work (Federal Statistical Office, 2022). We are convinced that drastic changes are needed in the construction industry, but also a rethink in society. This is the only way we will succeed in achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the net zero emissions set out therein by 2050.

Effective laws on thermal insulation and recovery have brought progress in reducing the operational emissions of buildings in recent years. Little consideration has so far been given to the gray emissions that arise when buildings are constructed. In order to reduce construction emissions, we must change the way we deal with existing buildings. Replacement construction should no longer be the first and best option, but we must carefully address the existing building stock with conversions and changes of use. Because when we demolish, we lose on many levels: Not only does a new building cause significantly more greenhouse gas emissions than a focused renovation, we also destroy valuable resources, architectural heritage and social networks.

The Street of Lost Houses
In the first room, the "Street of Lost Houses" stretched around the room as a photomontage. All the houses on this imaginary street will soon make way for a new building. The photographs create a spatial feeling for the streets that are disappearing through demolition throughout Switzerland. The individual houses, with their address and the date of construction and demolition, lent their faces to the 6,000 to 7,000 buildings that are demolished in Switzerland every year. Visitors no longer saw an abstract number, but perhaps recognized their hometown or their date of birth, imagined the story of the house's residents, or recognized potential for further construction in one of the houses.

Demolition cinema
The path led from the devout street through an orange construction site network directly into the noisy demolition cinema. The construction rubble that is created every ten seconds in Switzerland covered the floor of the cinema. Sitting on old refrigerators, the visitors immersed themselves in the floor-to-ceiling projection. We wanted to bring the fascination with demolition into the museum with the demolition film.

In addition to the projection, the count-up counted the amount of construction rubble that had accrued across Switzerland since the start of the exhibition. Every second it added 536 kg to a rapidly growing number. After around seven weeks, at the end of the exhibition, the count-up showed the unimaginable amount of 2,370,418,774 kg.

Countdown office: The association occupies the museum

The Countdown 2030 association occupied the central room of the museum with its association office. During the seven weeks of the exhibition, the association held its plenary sessions here and invited guests to events. Every day, members were on site and talked to visitors. They advised building owners, answered critical questions about the exhibition content and offered a listening ear to tenants affected by demolition.

All the knowledge that the members had gathered during the preparation of the exhibition was displayed on the walls. The historical events surrounding the topic of demolition were lined up along the rising emissions curve and ended with an insight into the situation in 2022. On the other walls, we addressed the topics of legislation, financing and resource consumption. At the beginning of the research there were open questions. We could not give conclusive answers in the exhibition, but visitors could follow our research trail using quotes, pictures, stories and newspaper articles.

The diagram "Where will my house go if it is demolished?" particularly caught the attention of many visitors. Based on the MatCH study, it showed the path the building components take after demolition.

Crisis conference: The actors of demolition

In the fourth room, the actors involved in demolition had their say. They met at an imaginary crisis conference and - as so often happens at a conference - did not talk to each other, but past each other. The visitors sat down at the table with them and were able to delve into the conversations with a pension fund manager, a demolition contractor, a resident and a construction worker. In addition to the arguments for and against demolition, the interviews also showed why today's laws and standards encourage demolition.

The demolition atlas hovered above the crisis conference and showed the current state of demolition mania in Switzerland. In the exhibition, visitors could enter buildings that had been demolished or threatened with demolition directly into the participatory online map or delve into the stories that had already been entered.

Demolition Atlas Switzerland

The political space

In the fourth and final room, a constant ticking can be heard. An LED countdown counts down the months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds until 2030: the point in time when Switzerland must have achieved net zero in construction.

We deliberately did not show any positive examples in the exhibition so as not to trivialize the issue and not to show any seemingly simple solutions. The petition thus became an element of hope and emphasized the importance of political action. Together with us, the signatories demanded:

Stop the demolition madness - build for the future now!

1. Demolition as an exception

2. Stop with the wrong incentives

3. More building in existing buildings

4. Clear goals for all buildings

5. The public sector is leading the way

The exhibition visitors were able to sign the petition form on site in all four national languages and in English. We handed the petition over to the national parliament in November.