On October 14 and 15, Swiss architect Gion Antoni Caminada will visit Poland, at the invitation of Geberit he will give a lecture "Architecture as a search for meaning".
where and when?
The first lecture will take place on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at 6:00 pm at the Manggha Museum in Krakow, while the second lecture will take place on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at the Kultura Wysoka space in Warsaw, as part of the conference "Gion. A. Caminada and the Architecture of Place" scheduled from 1:30 pm to 8:30 pm. In addition to a lecture by the title character, the program will include presentations by people who create architecture with strong ties to the places in which it is created - speakers include Justyna Dziedziejko (topoScape) and Marcin Maraszek (Archigrest), authors of the Park on the Warsaw Uprising Mound, Marcin Gierbienis and Damian Poklewski-Koziello (Gierbienis + Poklewski), authors of the educational building at the Marszewo Forest Botanical Garden in Gdynia - and a conversation featuring Gion A. Caminada, other speakers and the audience. The themes of the conference concern the relationship of architecture to the places for which it is created, both spatially, socially and in terms of the ways in which it is built.
observation tower
Photo: Lucia Degonda | Illustrations provided courtesy of Geberit
how to participate?
The lecture and presentations will be held in German, English and Polish. Both meetings will be simultaneously translated into Polish. Public participation in both events is free, but registration is required: Sign up
Gion. A. Caminada and the architecture of the place
© organizers archive
The conference "Gion. A Caminada and the Architecture of Place" will be the third in a series of events organized by Geberit Poland with the participation of internationally renowned architects. In 2022, a meeting was held with Shigeru Ban, and a year later - with Alejandro Aravena. The guest of the next installment will be Gion Antoni Caminada.
Who is Gion Antoni Caminada?
The architect was born in 1957 in the Alpine village of Vrin in the canton of Grisons, where he still lives today, runs his studio and has realized much of his architecture. Among his projects in Vrin is the sports and multi-purpose hall at the school in the hamlet of Vrin-Cons. It has an innovative - spring-like - roof structure, in the creation of which designer Jürg Conzett played an important role. The hall is used for sports activities, performances and various social events. In his hometown of Gion, Antoni Caminada also realized, among other things, a community slaughterhouse and butcher shop, a carpentry shop, a pre-funeral house, residential houses, barns, a garage for buses, bus stops and even a telephone booth!
Sports and multi-purpose hall at the school in the hamlet of Vrin-Cons
Photo: Lucia Degonda | Illustrations provided courtesy of Geberit
Gion Antoni Caminada creates architecture that is rooted in the places for which it is built and in tradition, but does not shy away from new solutions. The various ways in which wood is used in Caminada' s architecture predate the currently fashionable quest to increase its use in construction. Where did this love for wood come from? Caminada began his professional life as a journeyman carpenter, then trained at the Zurich School of Crafts, then completed his post-graduate studies at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich, where he became an assistant professor in 1998, and later became a professor for years. The architect is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Swiss Arc Award for lifetime achievement, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, the Swiss art prize Prix Meret Oppenheim or the German Critics' Prize.
Tegia da vaut
Photo credit: Lucia Degonda | Illustrations provided courtesy of Geberit.
