Herzog & de Meuron has finished a concrete apartment building on the outskirts of Zurich, which has staircases housed in four cylindrical corner towers .
The eight-storey block is positioned in Zellweger Park, Uster – a former industrial park that is currently being converted into a residential and industrial neighbourhood centred about a public park and sculpture garden.
The developing includes 32 apartments, intended by Herzog & de Meuron to be as generously sized as feasible. To obtain this, the Swiss architecture firm made a constructing with staircases at all four corners, meaning there is no require for corridors.
To draw consideration to these spiralling staircases, they stand inside cylindrical volumes reminiscent of the fortified towers of a castle.
All eight storeys contain 4 apartments, various in size from 81 to 130 square metres. They can be accessed by lift as nicely as by staircase, and these lifts open directly into each property.
Apartments function windows dealing with in two various directions, guaranteeing that each residence is filled with plenty of organic light and ventilation. All 32 also have a private twenty-square-metre balcony shaped in a crescent, fronted by white picket fences designed by artist Erik Steinbrecher.
“Good proportions, flowing spaces and wonderful views – these main architectural aspects define the top quality of the apartments,” explained partner in charge Christine Binswanger.
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“We did with no state-of-the-art fittings,” she extra, “alternatively emphasising a huge measure of privacy and a near connection to the natural surroundings.”
The building’s construction is a simple concrete grid, which was poured utilizing the most inexpensive formwork available. The concrete was left exposed on the exterior, and problems have been only corrected if “technically essential”.
Within, some concrete surfaces have been left unfinished to reveal the location of load-bearing walls. Partition walls are white-painted stucco, and there is also wooden strip flooring.
“We did not dress up the building,” mentioned Binswanger. “The concrete was moulded with the greatest formwork and remained unaltered. The creating is rough and you truly feel that it was done by hand.”
A auto park is located beneath the building, with 43 parking spaces for motor autos and 64 bicycle parking spaces.
Zellweger Park was left vacant in 2005, after the Zellweger Luwa air conditioning firm was offered. Since then numerous architects have been involved in repurposing the region as a centre for work and residing, such as EM2N and Gigon/Guyer Architekten.
Herzog & de Meruon’s developing stands opposite the brand’s former headquarters and showroom pavilion, created in the 1960s by Swiss architect Roland Rohn.
“Inside the common Swiss agglomeration community of Zellweger, Uster Park stands out,” stated studio co-founder Jacques Herzog. “It is exemplified by owners who have lengthy been demanding an architecture to cherish, and to give a broad audience with accessibility to an industrial site previously closed to the outdoors.”
Herzog & de Meuron has also lately completed a monumental new stadium in Bordeaux and a mountain-prime cable-automobile station. The company is also currently functioning on a revamp of Chelsea FC’s London stadium and the severely delayed Hamburg Elbphilharmonie concert hall.
Photography is by Erica Overmeer.
Task credits:
Project architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Partners: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Christine Binswanger
Undertaking staff: Michael Fischer, Alexander Franz, Salomé Gutscher, Nathalie Birkhäuser, Alen Guberinic, Emmanuel Guilloux, Vasilis Kalisperakis, Beatus Kopp, Aron Lorincz, Christian Schmitt, Eric Stutz, André Vergueiro, Miriam Waltz, Christoph Wassmann, Romy Weber
Artist: Erik Steinbrecher
Construction management: B+P Baurealisation
Electrical engineering: Professional Engineering
HVAC engineering: Waldhauser + Hermann
Landscape design: Hager Spouse
Plumbing engineering: BLM-Haustechnik
Structural engineering: Schnetzer Puskas
Expense consultant: B+P Baurealisation
Acoustics: Martin Lienhard Bauund Raumakustik
Creating physics: Zimmermann + Leuthe
Web site program 
Ground floor plan 
Very first floor program Dezeen
