What a better illustration for the Periscope’s (and D-ARCH’s) summer holiday than Manuel Pauli’s cartoon of ‘the’ architect relaxing in the sun with Sigfried Giedion’s magnum opus. Pauli (1930–2002) was a man of many talents: a gifted designer, a politically engaged citizen, and an artist with a finely tuned sense of observation. His work is often associated with that of Zurich contemporaries Rudolf and Esther Guyer (the designers of the Periscope vitrine), Fritz Schwarz and Pierre Zoelly. In 1965 Pauli joined the professional association Zürcher Arbeitsgruppe für Städtebau (ZAS), which initiated actions, alternative scenarios, and planning debates focused on the city of Zurich. Between 1983 and 1995, Pauli was the city planner of Lucerne.

The extensive Pauli estate, at the gta Archive since 2021, contains many hand drawings, watercolours, and travel sketchbooks. His insights were often humorous, such as the overleaf cartoons of architects on a BSA excursion. Beate Schnitter, a former ZAS colleague, characterized Pauli’s drawings as follows: “The scenes never repeat themselves, but they retain the same theme with an enormous instinctiveness, with an ingenious freedom of invention, with a spontaneous, confident black line.”

Wishing you beautiful spaces and great times this summer. Together, of course, with Giedion as a light read.