Zurich-Altstetten, 2015–2019
Competition, 2015, 1. Prize
The apartment house on Freihofstrasse, a compact building set along the street with a backyard, maintains and reinforces the urban characteristics of the neighborhood. The project pursued the idea of “simple construction,” which pertains to both its design and the process of its creation. What has emerged is a masonry building with plastered walls devoid of concealed technical installations and added insulation.
The simple floor plans are compact and highly practical. The core of each apartment is the lockable kitchen/dining room. Adjoining it are individual spaces of a consistently similar size, yielding functionally neutral rooms to meet the dissimilar needs of various tenant profiles. At the same time the apartments have a uniquely distinct, vexing quality between that of an old and a new building. Their rooms and elements are distinguished by individual qualities: they are sometimes bright, sometimes shady, and their windows and doors have anthropomorphic characteristics.
In coherence with the urbanistic intention, the architecture also shows restraint. Colored plaster surfaces, which enter into an exciting relationship with the sculpturally configured exterior corridors made of precast concrete elements, typify the architectural expression. An independent character was sought, but one that would also establish a connection to the buildings in the immediate vicinity. Relief work by artist Christian Hörler adorns the projections above both entries, adding a scenographic moment to the building.
Competition team
Ron Edelaar, Elli Mosayebi, Christian Inderbitzin, Julian Fischer, Valentin Surber, Patrick Zeller
Project team
Ron Edelaar, Elli Mosayebi, Christian Inderbitzin, Michael Brotzer, Michael Reiterer, Christian Franke, Sébastien Ressnig, Kevin Kraus, Charlotte Nobre, Jakub Gondorowicz, Friederike Merkel, Demian Derron
Client
Stiftung PWG, Zurich
Civil Engineer: WKP Bauingenieure AG, Zurich
Building Services: Ospelt Haustechnik, Vaduz
Building Physics: Wichser Akustik & Bauphysik AG, Zurich
Photographs
Roland Bernath
Publication
www.baunetzwissen.de
BUK ETHZ. Konstruktion, Birkhäuser 2021
Hochparterre, 9/2020
www.swiss-architects.com, 25.10.2019
NZZdomizil, 21.9.2019
www.swiss-architects.com, 26.7.2019
Wohnen, 1/2/2018
www.swiss-architects.com, 24.11.2017
Auszeichnung
best architects 21