Ideated by Valerio Olgiati
Written by Markus Breitschmid

Non-Referential Architecture is a manifesto on a new kind of architecture. Non-Referential Architecture presents a new framework for architecture in a world that is increasingly free of ideologies. We have left behind the values of multicultural postmodernity! Non-Referential Architecture offers unlimited possibilities for the liberated mind.

The book Non-Referential Architecture has been in the making for some time. The two authors – the architect Valerio Olgiati and the architectural theoretician Markus Breitschmid – know each other since 2005 and have had many conversations in Switzerland, the United States of America, and Portugal. The fruits of these conversations have been several previous publications that took on the form of books, essays, and interviews. The idea to make the book in hand arose in 2013. The content of the book coalesced in multiple extended conclaves held in the Swiss Alps and in Alentejo. The book was ultimately written in Virginia.