Location | Hagenholzstraße/Andreasstraße/Thurgauerstraße, CH-8050 Zurich - Oerlikon |
Client | Kanton Zurich, Implenia AG, Automobil und Motoren AG Zurich (AMAG), |
Building period | Section 1 1999-2004 / Section 2 2009-2013 |
Volume | GFA 97.600 m² |
Procedure | Section 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.