A Way of Life
Notes on Ballenberg
"A Way of Life" is an invitation to rediscover the material world with fresh eyes, inspired by the humble surroundings of Ballenberg. Ballenberg is an open-air museum in the Bernese Oberland in the Swiss Alps, which brings together farmhouses from across the country, spanning the 14th to 19th centuries. This book, edited by the entrepreneur and long-time driving force behind Vitra, Rolf Fehlbaum, is the result of a trip undertaken to Ballenberg by designers Jasper Morrison and architects David Saik, Tsuyoshi Tane and Federica Zanco.
The authors share a fascination with the simplicity, practicality and functional beauty of the world in which rural populations lived. "A Way of Life" compiles their observations and discoveries, revealing how architecture, furnishings and tools were always committed in their design and execution to the needs and necessities of everyday life; genuine solutions were found with the available means. Contemplating this intrinsic relationship between design, form and function, the book serves as a gentle reminder to resist the fads of today’s consumer world.
"A Way of Life" is an invitation to rediscover the material world with fresh eyes, inspired by the humble surroundings of Ballenberg. Ballenberg is an open-air museum in the Bernese Oberland in the Swiss Alps, which brings together farmhouses from across the country, spanning the 14th to 19th centuries. This book, edited by the entrepreneur and long-time driving force behind Vitra, Rolf Fehlbaum, is the result of a trip undertaken to Ballenberg by designers Jasper Morrison and architects David Saik, Tsuyoshi Tane and Federica Zanco.
The authors share a fascination with the simplicity, practicality and functional beauty of the world in which rural populations lived. "A Way of Life" compiles their observations and discoveries, revealing how architecture, furnishings and tools were always committed in their design and execution to the needs and necessities of everyday life; genuine solutions were found with the available means. Contemplating this intrinsic relationship between design, form and function, the book serves as a gentle reminder to resist the fads of today’s consumer world.
English edition – also available in German
Shortlisted for the DAM Architectural Book Award 2024
“Architecture without architects, without a written plan, but always precisely executed with the magic of necessity.”
– Architectural Digest Germany
“A Way of Life: Notes on Ballenberg encourages people to find answers to how we can respond [...] to issues such as resource scarcity, sustainability, individual housing needs, craftsmanship and climate change."
– NZZ Bellevue
“When people with an affinity to design discover the Open-Air Museum Ballenberg in Hofstetten near Brienz, Bern, it can result in an amazing book. (...) It is a very aesthetic book that uses calming photographs to focus on details of buildings from earlier times or invites the viewer to linger at a house and take in its stateliness.”
– Schweizer Bauer
