Controversial modernism in the Alps

The Guscetti brothers, one an engineer and one an architect, built houses inspired by American modernism in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino. Houses in the village of Ambri built by the duo contrasted starkly with the traditional sloped roof stone houses common to the area.

Their designs were such a sensation that German toy manufacturer Faller went on to produce hundreds of thousands of model houses, the “Villa in Ticino”, inspired by the Guscetti brothers’ buildings.

“The Dream of America”, an exhibition in Stans has traced the influence of American modernism in Switzerland to Bürgenstock and the Ambri area.
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