On the Essence of Parts... Sign and Cityscape

Architectural design is a rapproachement with the city; the architectural project reinterpretes parts of the urban structure. Places at which historical developments have left ruptures in the city framework, have introduced new scales. They demonstrate the complexity of the city’s structure and are most suitable to the design of new ur-ban conceptions. The architectural projects are developed by means of models at an urban scale, while plans are drawn to show their structure and spacial relationships. Parallel to this research, images are used to check architectural expression and to question the urbanistic conceptions developed.

	Zweierplatz Zürich Irene Kessler Serge Klammer Barbara Schlauri
	Zweierplatz Zürich Gabriela Eichenberger Urs Meili Meike Wolschin

Winter Semester 1999/2000 (Begleitfach Ruedi Seiler Konstruktion)

A corner site at Zweierplatz square in Zurich is proposed for the project, which includes the design of a music bar and at least three living units. The public space must be preserved. The level of density is to be defined by each project individually.

The projects proceed on two fronts: on an urbanistic level, the definition of the relationship between public and private, and at the scale of the building, the determination of material, construction, tectonic and static structure. The relationship of shell to body, of constructive logic to architectural expression, is to be analyzed and developed.

	Gaswerkareal Schlieren Philippe Klikar Giampiero Fazzone
	Zweierplatz Zürich Bruno Lampe Niels Montandon

Summer Semester 2000 (Begleitfach Prof. Dr. Ákos Moravánszky Architekturtheorie Assistenz: M. Tschanz)

The buildings of the gasworks in Schlieren have been replaced by a new center. The area is to be translated into a new urbanistic figure, while considering questions about the identity of the place and about the treatment of the four gasometers. As an ensemble, they create a very specific space and a strong sign in the valley of the Limmat. The program of the new city area includes two notions which imply contradictions and conflict. They are part of an approach to the development of contemporary interpretations of today’s city with regard to the contents instead of to historical references.

	Gaswerkareal Schlieren Oliver Suter
	Gaswerkareal Schlieren Véronique Bous, Sophie Maurer

Architecture and Design

Preface

We explore the theoretical basis of our architectural designs by testing them practically. From this point of view, the development of a project is a kind of research. Designs that prove their ‘soul’ after the purgatory of a construction process stimulate professional debate. This debate exposes the diverging forces of theory and practice.

This position is legitimated by the European City and is closely tied to building.

Modular Living Space/Experimentation

A section of the city near Baden’s industrial area with all its urban realignments was the subject of an interesting experiment on a city planning level as well as on a social, spatial and constructive level. The project proposed that residential space could return to the density and narrowness of the city while meeting the demands of up-market residential properties. This idea was linked to the search for a specific type that can accommodate the urban relationship between public and private and can therefore also make the transition from outside to inside in a remarkable way. The individual modules, three in the end, each contain four living units that can be understood as stacked detached houses. A hybrid space, a kind of veranda, that can be made either an interior or exterior space by means of sliding doors when the weather permits, offered compensation for detaching the units (with exception of the ground floor) from the actual ground. This space also serves as a ‘hanging’ garden in the city. The four horizontal units of a module are interlocked by a kind of Yin and Yang principle, which results in 3 meter high living room and a lower, denser area (sleeping/study) although the building envelope remains within the given height limitations.

A new construction system was developed for the modules, which acquire their sculptural strength from the spatial distribution of place and program. Shell and body are a continuation of a homogeneous masonry construction that was developed and tested on the school building in Gebenstorf. Continuous horizontal concrete bands are laid on the combined masonry construction of insulating and semi-clinker bricks at the level of the floor-slabs. These bands serve as lintel and sill of the windows which can then be located freely. The corporeality of the half-meter thick shell is fully brought to bear by the flush outer and inner windows, glazing and aluminum grilles which produce a series of small balconies, niches on the interior and verandas. The ecological idea of a continuous, ‘breathing’ wall (without any further insulation) is combined with a spatial advantage. The U-value (0,38 W/m2K) is better than required by the new SIA-norm 180. This system creates a virtually independent interior climate. The restraint amplitude and the shifting of the phases produce a virtually independent inner climate. Protection from driving rain is achieved by a double shell construction connected by the courses of the semi-clinker bricks and their exterior sealed joints.

The tension between exposure and anonymity which is part of living in the city is an interaction that can be individually modulated by opening various spatial compartments to the public space outside the building: Cave or Heaven.