A pioneer in the renewal of the architectural and urbanist forms of the 1960s, Pascal Häusermann has advocated modularity in architecture and the free expression of the individual for over fifty years. In 1958, Häusermann was the first architect to develop the technical concept of a house built in concrete sprayed onto a metallic framework. This very flexible technique freed the concrete from its wall panels and fostered the creation of highly varied shapes: simple or double cylindrical curve, spherical, hyperbolic. This process became the best means of expression for architecture-sculpture. From the early 1960s, Häusermann employed his technique to the construction of assemblages of prefabricated plastic shells and pods of egg-shaped architecture (Domobiles), ushering in the modular conception of the dwelling through highly advanced architectonic research. An advocate of the greater involvement of occupants in the design and development of their built environment, over the 1960s and 70s Häusermann built many buildings in France and Switzerland utilizing his concrete veil technique: houses (Grilly, Minziers, etc.), a restaurant (le Balcon de Belledonne, with Claude Häusermann-Costy), a general hospital in Geneva, until new legislation on building permits brought his production to a halt in the 1970s.
A multi-talented creator and musician, Pascal Häusermann was born in Switzerland in 1936. A graduate in architecture from the University of Geneva in 1962, in 1966 he joined the GIAP (Groupe International d'Architecture Prospective) founded in 1965 by Michel Ragon. Here he was in frequent contact with, among others, Ionel Schein, Yona Friedman and Paul Maymont. A fervent advocate of the free will of the individual in construction, he and his friends Chanéac and Antti Lovag founded the “Habitat Evolutif” association in 1971. The craftsman in charge of the restoration of Le Corbusier’s Immeuble Clarté in Geneva, Pascal Häusermann continued his experimentation with architecture (between Switzerland and Madras in India) until his passing in 2011.
