Description

Urban context

This point block ensemble is located in a green urban location on the outskirts
of Zurich, on a sloping lot at the base of the Üetliberg, amid a school, small
slabs, and taller residential towers. Individual volumes of four or five stories
are arranged on a linear axis of access. This axis is defined by a subterranean
parking garage, which forms a pedestal that connects all five buildings. The
central plaza axis is accessed from Hegianwandweg to the southeast. Open views
into the landscape, combined with the feeling of being in an urban environment,
account for the quality of this autonomous urban building block.

Ground-floor zone

This long, outstretched housing plot was artfully designed – line drawings evoke
associations of street painting or playing fields. The residential building is
entered through a spacious glazed lobby. The building lobbies are not locked and
can be entered around the clock. The built axis results from a seeming
wilderness of different types of grasses typical of the area, hedgerows, and
islands for family gardens and playgrounds. Paths from the surrounding
neighborhood cross the main axis. The use of the existing topography and a
diversity of heights define spatial intersections. The carefully worked-out
sequence of public, semipublic, and private spaces results in a feeling of
community that feels more like an opportunity than an obligation.

Building structure

The development includes seventy-four apartments ranging from seventy to a
hundred square meters, two day-care centers, and various common spaces. The
central stairwells in the interior are lit from above and provide access to
three or four apartments on each floor. All the apartments have views on two or
three sides, offering a variety of perspectives on the collective spaces and the
surrounding landscape. The central points of intersection, such as the lobbies,
the entrances to the apartments, and the balconies, were designed with
particular care. The garage was adorned with a light installation that turns it
into a collective space that contributes to the identity of the place. In
addition, the five lobbies are marked by red neon contours. All of the artistic
inventions have one thing in common: they lend precision to various (semi)public
spaces in the development.

Facade

Spacious perforated facades and deep hanging balcony zones surround the
apartments. Full-height windows open onto generous balconies two meters deep,
which can be transformed into green rooms in the outdoors thanks to flexible
shade elements. The receded top floors and staggered entrance areas result in
cubic volumes whose projections and indentations open or conceal, producing
proximity or distance, according to the situation.

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Originally published in: Ulrike Wietzorrek, Housing+: On Thresholds, Transitions, and Transparencies, Birkhäuser, 2014.