Heinz C. Sigrist was born in 1942 in Weissenburg (canton of Berne), Switzerland. As the oldest of three children, he was assigned to take over the family business: carpentry, interior fitting, furniture. So he did an apprenticeship as carpenter, to continue his education at the master school Höhere Fachschule Bürgenstock above Lake Lucerne. Although this was the basis for his professional career, Sigrist never took over the family business, but went to study in Germany and eventually started his own architecture studio back in Switzerland.1
Following a recommendation of one of his teachers at Bürgenstock, Sigrist studied interior architecture at the then-called Schule für Innenarchitektur in Detmold, from 1967 through to 1969. He graduated as designer (Diplom-Designer), with his diploma project being published in one of the 1971 issues of the German architecture magazine Detail.
Sigrist had planned to go back to Switzerland for work, but was then asked by Günter Günschel, professor at HFBK Braunschweig, to take part in his post-graduate study course of Experimental Architecture (Experimentelle Architektur). Sigrist studied in Braunschweig from 1970 onwards. A year later, all five students of his study course were invited to take part in an idea’s competition on another professor’s private house. Sigrist’s project was awarded the 1st prize. We do not know if and, if so, how the house was actually built.
At about that time, professor Peter Raacke, professor for Industrial Design at HFBK Hamburg (1968–1993), invited Heinz C. Sigrist to take part in an international design competition by the company Gesika (today Sedus) which is specialized in office furniture. Sigrist decided to exmatriculate from HFBK Braunschweig and moved to Hamburg. The archive says he studied at HFBK Hamburg from the winter semester 1971/72 on. Originally, it had been planned that the contribution to the competition would be designed by a small group of students under the guidance of Professor Raacke. However, the group dynamics didn’t work out and the group fell apart. Sigrist decided to continue on his own. He therefore moved back to his parents’ house for some months. In 1973, both his and the project of two other HFBK students were awarded the 1st prize. The prize money allowed Sigrist to continue his studies in the architecture department at HFBK Hamburg from which he graduated in November 1976 (grade: Diplom-Ingenieur). As important professors during his studies Sigrist mentions Hinrich Baller, Joseph Beuys, H. Heinrich Moldenschardt and Bazon Brock.
When asked for his motivation on going abroad for his studies, Heinz C. Sigrist declares: “curiosity and ambition, unstoppable enthusiasm” (“Neugierde und Ehrgeiz, unaufhaltsamer Tatendrang”).2
After his graduation, Heinz C. Sigrist returned to Switzerland and founded his own architecture firm in Thun in 1977. During his 40 years of professional practice, Heinz C. Sigrist built numerous houses in Germany, also some in France, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. One of these houses, the Stampbachhaus in Gunten a lake Thun, was featured in the architecture magazine Das ideale Heim.3 Sigrist claims that in his work, he searched for a combination of architectural quality and a high level of usability for the client, which are also linked to the invested capital. Heinz C. Sigrist was a member of the SIA, the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects.
Heinz C. Sigrist was married twice and is a father of five children. Today, he lives in Erlenbach im Simmental.
This article was published in February 2025.