Prior to talking about Raimund Abraham, let me set the context. During my year abroad at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (I.A.U.S) in New York City—an inspirational time studying under Diana Agrest, Peter Eisenman, Mario Gandelsonas, George Ranalli, and Anthony Vidler—the city became a natural extension of my academic interests and, of course, a palimpsest to discover and experience first-hand what it meant to be at the center of the world.  During the 1980s, the Big Apple was a city in deep transition, and living there was nothing less than crazy, particularly relative to the tameness of my home country Switzerland.