At the Tanzhaus
John Hill
26. August 2019
All photos by John Hill/World-Architects
World-Architects held its annual pow-wow last week, when our international team of curators, editors, and programmers converged on Zurich for two days of meetings, talks, and other activities. On Friday we got a peek at Tanzhaus Zurich, whose extension by Barozzi/Veiga opens on the weekend of September 6-8.
The new two-story building on the banks of the Limmat is the replacement of a building that was destroyed by fire in October 2012. Barcelona's Barozzi/Veiga won a competition for its replacement a couple years later with a design that steps down from street level and Tanzhaus's other building to the public promenade along the river.
The new building was carried out by the City of Zurich at a cost of CHF 14.4 million (a fact sheet, in German and in PDF format, lays out the details and includes floor plans). It provides offices, studios (one is visible in the photo above), a performance hall, and a cafe/bar for the institution, a well-regarded center of contemporary choreography and performance.
If you're in or near Zurich this week, be sure to stop by the Tanzhaus over its opening weekend. (It's a busy weekend: the annual Lange Nacht, when dozens of museums open for a late night, takes place on September 7.) Zurich mayor Corine Mauch and Tanzhaus president Marco Läuchli will cut the ribbon, "every last corner of the new Tanzhaus will be open to the public," and a season's worth of dance programming will be packed into three days.
Below are some photos from our visit to Tanzhaus.
The Viadukt promenade over the Limmat provides an ideal vantage point for seeing the entirety of the new Tanzhaus.
The main design feature — tapered concrete columns interlocking with trapezoidal openings — is clearly expressed on the facades overlooking the Limmat.
The roof of the new Tanzhaus is planted, while a grated walkway (at left) caps a skylight that brings natural light to the studios (photo at top) and other spaces in the building.
The top level of the two-story building houses the offices and changing rooms and has a generous terrace that parallels the promenade below.
The building is knitted into the public promenade that continues along the Limmat, while vines climbing the wires in the openings soften the concrete facade.
A generous foyer on the lowest level serves the cafe/bar and as spillover space from the performance hall and studios.
