SITUATION
The project is located in Zürich, in the vibrant family district of Kreis 7. Situated between a park and the city, between a home and a kindergarten, we immediately thought of joining these two places as well as these two generations. like a roof that joins, gathers and unifies the whole.

CONTEXT
Before diving too deeply into the project, let's take a closer look at the existing building. As a typical 19th century Zurich building, it is part of the city's built heritage. As you can see on the blue-line drawing, our building is made of solid stone and has a remarkable façade with beautiful ironwork at the corner. Naturally, we considered renovating the building. But given the outdated state of the structure, the layer that supports all the others, we decided to rethink it, while maintaining the remarkable façade on the street side. From this observations, we saw that we have to built a new structure that is resilient through the time so we have to think about the future. How do we respond to population growth, housing shortages and the increasing ageing of the population? How to adapt the standards imposed today on buildings that will live for more than half a century? How can this be translated into buildings? What will happen to our construction in the near future? And in a hundred years? First of all, our building zone will soon be changed from W5 to W6 according to the Zurich development plan. This means that we will have an extra floor and more building space. So why not plan a structure that is ready for another ten floors? Hence we planned a building for a hundred years from now. Un entre-deux, sitting between the kluspark and the klusplatz, between young and elderly, between nature and construction, between old and new envelop, between present and future.

PROGRAM
On the first six floors, young and old share different spaces, giving rise to various interactions between them. However, as the two generations are visually split by the old firewall, each generation always has the opportunity to step back a little and rest or play freely without disturbing the others. All in harmony where everyone shares and learns from each other. On the sixth floor, a terrace connected to the surrounding roofs is available to the public. Its view of the city gives it considerable appeal. It also gives the volume a certain lightness. For the upper nine floors, we keep following the goals and create housing for three distinct groups of people by having individual floorplans for all of them that best fits their needs and preferences. Three floors for seniors and three floors for families with children. Both can benefit from the hybrid space on the bottom floors. Lastly, three floors for students who can work as caretakers for the young and old and thereby get some reduction on their rent.

ACCESSIBILITY & CIRCULATION
A main entrance for the childcare can be found on the streetside. The public stairwells and elevators to the east and west of the building, give easy access to anyone who wishes to walk the roofs of the blocks. Between the new facade and the old structure, a ramp flows upwards, giving new possibilities to the use of the building. Niches, balconies, terraces and paths only accessible by the ramp furthermore underline its importance as a part of the new program. Two arms of the ramp grow outside the building and connect to the park to give easy and direct access without stairs.

CONSTRUCTION
We keep as much of the old masonry facade as possible and use it as a climate barrier for a new interior structure. Also we reuse most of the old beams for the floors. The new filigree facade forms frames for either glass or panels, so we can decide where we want people to see through and where not. Designed as a curtain wall, the new facade adapts its perimeter as required and is the limit of the heated space. The gap that this creates, functions as a tempered area. The ramp is out of corrugated metal to allow airflow between all the stories and to make it see-through so one can grasp the concept of this in- between space. Pillars out of H-profile steel support the new structure and grow out of the old building to carry the nine apartment floors above. The interior layout remains free on all floors, giving us the opportunity to generate floor plans that fit every user specifically.

FUTURE
Designed as a roof for several generations, this kind of structure and program may be able to take place in several locations in Zurich.

Collaboration with Tim Furrer.
Project carried out as part of the Studio Fondamenta; guests of Christian Kerez at ETHZ.