Oil has made it possible to live in a level of prosperity that no one would ever have thought possible. A monument to this era are the brutalist highway bridges, which since the 1960s have made it as easy as possible to get from A to B.

The golden age of the petroleum-based society

One day, this era will come to an end. The last barrel of oil will be opened. Just as the steam turbine replaced horsepower, renewable energies will replace petroleum. People will be able to marvel at the beautiful combustion engines in the transport museum. Humanity's next transition from one energy source to another is imminent and unstoppable. With everything that goes with a transformation.

The melancholy of the past and the joy of what may come are irrevocably linked in every transformation. And so I do not want to condemn the manifested monuments of this era and welcome the new.

Monoliths of progress

The melancholy of the past and the joy of what is to come are irrevocably linked in every transformation. And so I do not want to condemn the memorials of this era and welcome the new.

The most important Bridge of the swiss capital

Bern has many beautiful bridges. But the most important bridge in Bern leads a shadowy existence: the Felsenau Viaduct. Without this bridge, the A1 freeway would be cut in half.

In the shadow of the Aare trench at a height of 60 meters, this brutalist structure is often overlooked in favor of such beauties as the Kirchenfeld Bridge. Yet, concrete also has its charm.