Elisabeth Wampfler is an architect and partner at Jaggi Architecture in Gstaad, where her team handles projects from the first sketch through to construction. Elisabeth spoke to GstaadLife about creativity, collaboration and the extraordinary variety of work this region has to offer.

What skills do you think are important for your profession?
You need openness, creativity and imagination. Every project is a different world: you immerse yourself in it, understand how it works, then translate that into an architectural context. You also need solid technical knowledge and the ability to work in a team, because we collaborate with many parties. But above all, you must be genuinely interested in your environment. That openness is what makes the difference.

Has the work changed over the years?
The job is still about creating great buildings for our clients, but the instruments we now use are completely different. We used to draw everything by hand, and now we work with software that would have been unimaginable thirty years ago. Construction techniques evolve, and the rules and regulations shift constantly. You need to stay flexible, but for me, that’s the most exciting thing about the job. We never do the exact same thing twice.

What gives you the most joy in your profession?
I enjoy creating buildings, and I love drawing. But I'm also very open to meeting people, going quite deeply into how they live and work. Very often, clients cannot define their needs clearly, so we help them: what do you really need, how do you really want to live, what is best for your work? People are always interesting. I'm convinced I have the greatest job in the world.

How do you feel the culture has changed for women in construction?

I think it's changed significantly in the last thirty years. Women always wanted to do these things, but men made the evolution by accepting women in different positions, even above them. That was the big step. I was lucky and never encountered problems; I was always very well accepted throughout my career, though I know other women have had different experiences.

Today, I would say this job is open for everyone, women and men equally. It depends much more on your personality and ability than your gender. For example, in our office, languages are very important – half our clients speak French, half speak English and being able to communicate with them is a bigger deal than whether you're a man or a woman. For me, the ideal collaboration is a mixture of both, but character always matters most. Today, if you want to, you can do it. Girl or boy, it doesn't matter.

How do you see the future of architecture?
Architects will always be needed; it's not something AI can replace. What will change are the instruments we use to reach the goal. More specialists will emerge, and the architect's role will increasingly be to bring them all together, like a conductor with an orchestra. Urban planning is perhaps the most important dimension of all: how we build within our environment to create sustainable, liveable spaces – a huge responsibility and a huge challenge. I'd love to motivate young people to look at this profession – it's an amazing world to be part of. We're always looking for people to join our office.

What is your favourite thing about working in this region?
When I started, I thought I'd quickly run out of interesting projects here. I was completely wrong. I’ve worked on cable cars, hotels, an airport, and a school campus. My colleagues in Bern or Lausanne spend their entire careers working on the same residential buildings and will never get to work on projects like these. The variety is why I'm still here.

ANNA CHARLES

Elisabeth Wampfler
033 744 26 88
www.jaggi.swiss