Wilfried Schmidt: The winged architect

TEXT: NANE STEINHOFF

Let’s face it: Wilfried Schmidt’s profile as an architect defies simple categorisation. While all of us carry psychological complexity, his professional drive and intellectual pursuits are so multifaceted that he emerges as a strikingly protean figure, a free electron wriggling in all directions.

Though turning 60 this year, he still considers himself a young architect. This stems partly from his practice being just eight years young, but more fundamentally from his willingness to confront each new challenge with what he calls “beginner’s awareness”. For him, beyond formal design considerations, the processes of learning and discovery remain paramount. In today’s architectural climate, where star architects command the spotlight and feed the public’s appetite for spectacle, his approach remains refreshingly atypical.

Unlimited 3d labyrinth (2025). © in-deed

After studying under Luigi Snozzi at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and an initial collaboration with Livio Vacchini, he joined Snozzi’s office, first in Locarno, later in Lausanne. During this formative decade, he worked primarily on projects in Germany (Pforzheim) and the Netherlands (Groningen, Maastricht). Like many young architects shaped by Snozzi’s teaching at the time, these early years left an indelible mark, instilling not just professional skills but also an ethical – even political – understanding of building. Above all, he absorbed the principle that any architectural act, private or public, must prioritise its impact on the collective realm.

Moïse-Duboule, 49-61 – Geneva – renovation project of a 98 housing unit (2019-ongoing). © Filippo Bolognese

For the next ten years, as head of Burckhardt+Partner’s Geneva office, one of Switzerland’s largest firms, he expanded the team from seven to 28 employees before leaving to establish his own practice. This deliberate shift allowed him to work independently, a chosen solitude that does not preclude collaborations with colleagues and friends, particularly in Ticino, the land of his childhood, a territory in which he participated in the development of the Locarno and Biasca masterplans.

Extension of Geneva University Hospital (2007-2017) – with Brunet-Saunier, Jacques Lucan, Odile Seyler & Gerold Zimmerli. © Thomas Jantscher

As a self-proclaimed work addict, he asserts: “It’s only by doing that you understand.” And he wants to understand. He measures fulfilment not in hours but in the pursuit of his endless appeals. In his experience, generosity – even towards clients – often pays back. For this reason, and as a consequence of his relentless pursuit of quality, this ultimately disinterested stance continues to be one of the main strategies of his busy-ness.

Denis-de-Rougemont, 4/14 – Geneva – 69 subsidised housing units (2008-2015) – with Burckhardt+Partner. © Thomas Jantscher

He explores ceaselessly: making time for photography, teaching in Lausanne, Geneva, Fribourg, Mendrisio, and Monte Carasso, writing, crafting a mirror that refuses reflection with a cabinetmaker friend, or designing a book of endlessly expandable three-dimensional labyrinths for one of his sons. Simultaneously, for nearly 15 years, he has been deeply involved in Les Ailes (The Wings), a housing cooperative born from the former Swissair, where he is strongly committed to providing social housing. In fact, it was this first client, in 2017, that gave him the opportunity to really take off with his architectural firm in-deed.

His architecture is characterised by great simplicity and expressive sobriety. But do not be fooled: simplicity is a conquest, the result of hard work. As for so-called sustainable development? Do not ask. He dismisses the term as tautological and its approach as misguided, a fundamental issue co-opted by the interests that created it. To him, there is no magic formula, and no one in the western world is prepared to accept the sacrifices a real solution would demand.

The winged architect | Joli-Mont, 4-6 - Geneva, 42 cooperative housing units (2018-ongoing). © archipoly

Over the course of his career, he has had the good fortune to tackle a wide variety of programs: schools, hospitals, administrative buildings, theatres, and music halls, amongst others. His recent specialisation in social housing is more a matter of chance, linked to his current clientele.

Since Covid and thanks to the cloud, he maintains two offices in Geneva and Palma. Now, following Danish architect Jørn Utzon’s footsteps, he is building a house for his wife in Mallorca’s local marès sandstone, naturally in Petra.

The winged architect | House in Petra (2021-ongoing). © archipoly

When asked about his career’s greatest successes over 35 years, he answers without hesitation: “My ultimate success consists in having achieved doing exactly what I enjoy, according to my values and priorities! Of course, I had to fight and be patient, but I succeeded. This reality matters more to me than any prestigious project I might have participated in. Today, I find joy in undertakings I can handle alone. That tempered ambition is itself a success. Perhaps my next achievement will be a gain in serenity, who knows?”

Video presentation (in French):