Hagenholzstraße High-rise Ensemble
Gesamtensemble von außen
Zugang zum zentralen Platz durch Gassen
Durchwegung zum Platz
Platz
Zentraler Platz mit Arkaden

Hagenholzstraße High-rise Ensemble

LocationHagenholzstraße/Andreasstraße/Thurgauerstraße, CH-8050 Zurich - Oerlikon
ClientKanton Zurich, Implenia AG, Automobil und Motoren AG Zurich (AMAG),
Building periodSection 1 1999-2004 / Section 2 2009-2013
VolumeGFA 97.600 m²
ProcedureSection 1: Direct Commission Section 2: Commissioned Study 2001, 1st prize

with Atelier WW

The large-scale ensemble on Hagenholzstraße in Zürich’s Oerlikon district draws a number of its central concepts from the Rockefeller Center. Like its counterpart in New York, this complex forms an autonomous, compact city-in-a-city, which in this case however responds to its location in a peripheral urban context. Drawing on its American role model, the high-rise group was conceived as an ensemble in which public space and residential units are accorded equal status.To a greater extent than in the Rockefeller Center, the mass and shape of the building in its urban context take precedence over the architectural design. The facades of the entire ensemble are pared down to just a handful of carefully articulated details. The buildings consequently appear almost monolithic, akin to sculptures of houses. The concept of inward densification ensures that Zurich’s inhabitants gain a strong sense of the district as a significant component within the city’s urban design and as a nucleus for the neighbourhood’s urban future.