There where Semper built, there was more involved than bricks and mortar. In his sophisticated awareness of representations of antiquity he brought new splendour to the baroque city of Dresden, and in Vienna, with the extension of the Hofburg and the museum buildings, he created an urban nucleus to symbolise the self-representation of the emperors. The newly founded Federal Polytechnicum in Zurich (as ETH Zurich was called originally), which Semper planned and which was commenced in 1860, went way beyond the limits of what, until then, had been deemed suitable for public buildings. At the same time the first Federal university was seen as the manifestation of the country's scientific ambition and after the Federal Palace in Berne the most important building projects to be undertaken in the recently fledged Federal Republic.

A sensation for Zurich

Additional weight was given to the Polytechnicum by its location on a hillside overlooking the centre of the town. "It was at the centre of an enormous development drive and instrumental in the eventual subsumption of the hamlet of Oberstrass by the town and the development of this district into a centre for science and culture," explains Werner Oechslin, Professor at ETH for the History of Art and Architecture, knowledgeable Semper specialist and editor of a new, comprehensive monograph on Semper and his works (1). Thanks to the creation of the Polytechnicum, "Zurich made the transition from a provincial town to a metropolis", says Oechslin. The symmetrically laid out building, he goes on to say, set the tone for the construction, later on, of the University, the layout of the Rämistrasse, the University Hospital, the Art House – in fact the entire stretch of the city known today as the "culture mile".

Façades as messengers

Oechslin points to Semper's cunning method to make the messages that he wanted to get across visible. While the four sides of the building were a reflection of the symmetrical, oblong-shaped structure as a whole, each façade carried a very different message. "This means that the observer is led, quite intuitively, to the function of each element of the building." The west façade, facing the city, for example – "altogether one of the most important of the 19th century" – still evokes the festive atmosphere of a renaissance palazzo.

Would like to see the demise of the hit-and-miss principle governing the use of the main building: Werner Oechslin, Professor at the ETH Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture large

How was it possible to reconcile the opulent appearance of this construction with the strong Swiss – not to mention Zurich's – traditions of modest austerity? "The middle classes, the bourgeoisie of the 19th century had a claim for representation" explains Oechslin. The construction of a federal university was also a manifestation of republican pride, a sign that a university education was no longer the prerogative of a few, but possible for everyone.

The erection of the Polytechnicum and the National Museum were also seen at the time as fitting marks of a capital city. "There was a political will to make Zurich the capital of intellect and culture." A further factor that must not be overlooked is that, initially, the Polytechnicum also housed the (Cantonal) University and thus took on the function of representing science in its entirety.

Patterns of antiquity

So it was the west façade of the building, facing the old town, which was assigned the task of demonstrating this "political" will. The viewer's attention is caught by the magnificent Corinthian columns in the centre, what is called a projection in architectural terms. It is not by chance that we find the biggest auditoria here, as well as the Great Hall and entrance area, where Semper expressed his ideas in the clearest terms.

Symbolic architecture, significant location: Gottfried Semper's «Federal Polytechnicum» in a photograph from before 1915. (Foto: Bildarchiv ETH-Bibliothek, Zürich) large

Between the entrances, where the vista of Gustav Gull's central hall opens up today, Semper displayed what can only be called an antique museum, emphasising his ideals of a humanist based system of education at the Polytechnicum. "His aim was not to intimidate and overwhelm students and visitors but, by exposing them to representations of humanist ideals, to make them familiar with antiquity's models," says Oechslin. The same aim is conspicuous on the opulent ceiling of the Great Hall, painted following a design of Semper's. Originally the Hall was the honour's chamber and the Great Hall of both universities ("today, sadly demoted", says Oechslin). The ceiling is painted with an allegorical representation of science and art, gathered in a circle around Athene, the Greek goddess of wisdom.

Misappropriated use

Naturally, the south wing no longer fulfils its original function, namely as the entrance to the Cantonal University. "This façade is the least adorned of all," as Oechslin points out. Nevertheless, the calm, leaning structures, again evoking Greek antiquity, and a portal with Doric columns lend dignity and an air of representativeness to the surroundings.

This impression is cruelly shattered when one enters the building from this side. The addition of a wall with glass cases shuts out the view today to what was the atrium, the central hall, and hinders direct access to the interior. Visitors are directed along corridors, to the left or the right, something that pains the expert. "These loveless and makeshift changes do great injustice to Semper's work," he says critically and suggests, by way of improvement, "Wouldn't the Jubilee be a fitting occasion to correct the hit-and-miss principle governing the use of this masterpiece and to construe the old university entrance as the access to ETH's administrative offices, for example?" The west façade, he goes on to say, would thus regain the function that Semper had assigned to it, and the Collections could be brought together there.

Massive changes

In the beginning these were housed in the east wing, which was totally changed when Gustav Gull (1915 – 1924) carried out his renovations. Initially, the chemistry building had been placed, separated from the main building for security reasons, in front of the east (today the main) entrance to the Polytechnicum. The semicircle with the Auditorium Maximum and the dome, which dominates this façade today was part of Gull's work. This change – dictated by the planning authorities – shifted the mass of Semper's creation to such an extent that the orientation of the building was "turned" from facing towards the town to facing, as it does today, towards Zürichberg. "A very delicate problem, for which Gull found a good solution," says Oechslin. He adds, "One has to admit that Gull showed great sensibility in his dealings with Semper's legacy".

The whole person

The guided tour ends in the Tannenstrasse with a view of the north façade. Even after 150 years it still exudes extravagance. It is richly decorated with emblems and portraits of personages from art and science, from Michelangelo to James Watt, all done in graffito technique, again executed according to plans from Semper. The representations, once more, are tied to the hopes that Semper had for this building, "that education offered here would not be a one-sided technical, natural science affair, but based on a wider, humanistic basis that takes the whole person into account," says Oechslin. Semper's conviction culminates in the inscription in the centre, one that brought him a lot of criticism for its radicalism: "It wouldn't be worthwhile to be born, were it not for science and art."