Hardturm Site, CH-Zurich

The new stadium serves as the gateway to the city and the starting point of the neighborhood, with large perimeter-block developments — on a scale comparable to that of the stadium — adjoining its eastern side. The residential building located directly next to the stadium can be seen, on the one hand, as part of this row of perimeter-block developments. On the other hand, it serves as a mediator, as it creates space to the south for the stadium plaza.

On the ground floor, a flexible spatial layout — without any disruptive restrictions on the structural system, which tapers skillfully at this point — is being created between the circulation cores, featuring a kindergarten and commercial spaces. On the seven upper floors, 163 apartments are organized around 12 pairs of circulation cores. Due to the surrounding noise pollution, all open spaces as well as the majority of the living and sleeping areas in each individual apartment face the landscaped inner courtyard. Since the interior facade area of a block edge is naturally smaller than the exterior one, a structure has been developed facing the inner courtyard that creates additional rooms on the inner side of the block edge, thereby reversing the relationship. At the same time, this structure provides good privacy and allows the apartments to face the diagonal of the courtyard, ensuring that the view toward the inner courtyard offers maximum visibility.

The interplay between the outer structure — which is orthogonal to the facade — and the twisted inner courtyard structure creates a natural division of each apartment’s living spaces into two distinct areas — without sacrificing the benefits of light from two sides. The structural continuity of the design results, on the one hand, in an extremely efficient load-bearing system and, on the other hand, in a high degree of repeatability, which facilitates the prefabrication of many building components. All apartments on the full stories feature a spacious terrace that can be enclosed in winter to form a fully glazed sunroom, allowing it to be used as an extension of the living space even during transitional seasons. As a result, the building envelope area in winter is dramatically smaller than in summer.