EW Areal

The so-called Escher-Wyss area is a large industrial site in the western part of Zurich, comprising about 17 hectares of land. To correspond to an urban policy that requires keeping industrial activities within the city, the main parts of the area, such as the large-scale fabrication halls, should be maintained as location for research and development as well as production-factory for the German MAN turbine production company. Since this company is highly active and innovative in the R&D of high-tech industrial products, the place is becoming very attractive for spin-off companies as well as for collaborations with universities. On the other hand the advancement in production-technologies allows close proximity with housing space on the area that reveals the potential for a living and working environment in the centre of Zurich - a city within a city. The requirement of the competition was to propose a strategy for a long-term development of the site with the coexistence of living and working that would generate a new identity for the area. The current trend in the urban developments of former industrial areas in Zurich-West, mostly developed by real estate investors, is the designation of such areas through vertical signs - the market is slowly starting to compete with the device of architectural iconic forms. This goes along with the commonly globally applied concepts of urban renewal and gentrification strategies with a gradual replacement of existing social networks with high-end housing and commercial programs. The recognition of a condition of ‘clusters’, which constitutes the urban-quality of the area, allows a different strategic development. These clusters, composed by different typologies are containing a large diversity of programs, such as commercial, cultural, working and living-activities in the already existing building substance. Instead of implementing ‘alien-iconic-forms’, the subtle supplementation of the clusters with additional typologies allows the building of ‚group-forms‘, which can be developed flexible and independent from each other - while at the same time strengthen the identity of each cluster. These additional typologies are flexible structures, which have the potential to contain either office space or apartments combined with ateliers – being adaptable to a changing marked demand.