THE EXTRACTION OF VALUE
25.11.2026 – 24.04.2027
Opening Tuesday 24 November 2026 6.30pm
When we think of architecture, we immediately imagine plans, models and architects’ names. The Extraction of Valuemoves the focus of architectural knowledge towards the tools that measure, mark out, monitor and align a building during its construction. About a hundred antique instruments, collected over several decades and from various parts of the world by the architect Paolo Tombesi, constitute the core of this exhibition. Levels, gauges, rulers, graduated rulers and plummets are presented not merely as artisanal curiosities, but as repositories of technical knowledge: each tool embodies choices relating to tolerances, the coordination of operations and the division of labour. From design to the built reality, where does the true intelligence of a building actually lie?
An exhibition realised with Paolo Tombesi, professor at the Laboratory of Construction and Architecutre FAR at EPFL
Information to come