New Year’s Message

Photo credit: SIK-ISEA, Zürich (Philipp Hitz)

Climate crises, frequent natural disasters, political upheavals, armed conflicts and wars in many parts of the world threaten both the environmental, social and economic balance of the globe and also our relation to nature, biodiversity and humanity.

Rapid advances in digitalisation and artificial intelligence not only fundamentally question the professional world but also endanger our determination capacity and relativise our individual competence. As citizens and architects, we are challenged to position ourselves in a controversial world whose control should not escape us.

We need to explore new ways of thinking and handling, reaffirm common values, widen our perspective, see things from different angles.

As architects, we share a responsibility not only for the built environment and the future of the profession, but also for the future of humanity and the planet.

Let us all contribute to ensure that 2024 is a decisive step towards a better world.

With my best wishes for the New Year!

Regina Gonthier
UIA President

The principal topic of the work of the Swiss artist Markus Raetz (1941-2020) is the nature of visual perception. The focus is not on what the work portrays but on how it is perceived. His sculptures require interactivity by the viewer and can be understood only when viewed from different angles. The same sculpture is YES and NO, but it may also be seen as NES.