Until 9th February the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel S AM presents the exhibition “Lookout. Architecture with a view.” Perceiving the world from another perspective is something that has always fascinating people. For centuries, the lookout over the land from towers was necessary in order to detect dangers, such as fires or approaching enemies. Today lookouts mostly serve to view fascinating landscape.

The exhibition at S AM of exemplary structures from various countries is realised as a walk through course and presented using photos, models and plans, as well as brief descriptions that indicate the uniqueness of each object and shed light on the stories behind the buildings.

The exhibition shows architectural interventions from the past 15 years that serve to provide a view of the landscape: not only towers, but also platforms or small buildings, and even minimal interventions. Special attention is paid to landscapes of touristic interest like the Ruta del Peregrino (pilgrim’s way) in Mexico, the National Tourist Routes in Norway of the Timmelsjoch Experience between Austria and South Tyrol.

A publication accompanies the exhibition as part of the S AM series: Hubertus Adam, S AM (ed), Lookout. Architecture with a view. Christoph Merian Verlag, 2013.
www.sam-basel.org