IM VIADUKT – Refurbishment Viaduct Arches

Zurich, Switzerland

Photo © Ralph Hut

Photo © Roger Frei

Photo © Joël Tettamanti

Siteplan

Overall ground floor, Ground floor part 3

Section, part 1

Architects: EM2N

Location: 8004 Zurich, Switzerland
Year: 2010
Client: Stiftung PWG
Type of Commission: Competition
Competition: 2004 1st prize
Planning: 2005–2008
Start of construction: 2008
Completion: 2010
Space Program: Spaces for trade and services, ateliers and workshop spaces, market hall and restaurants, nursery
Size: Gross floor area: 9’008 m2

In this project we examine two essential questions: How can an infrastructure element that is a protected monument be programmed and made part of the urban system? In an era with an increasing amount of regulations (energy, hygiene, fire protection etc.) and greater demands for comfort, how can low-budget projects be carried out?

The viaduct is more than just a bridge. Like a mountain chain erected by human hand it appears in the town with a scale derived from the landscape and topography. The infrastructure element, originally used as a railway line, is to form a linear park that will be part of a culture, work and leisure mile.

This reprogramming of the viaduct initiates two decisive urban impulses: a spatial barrier becomes a linking structure, and the outdoor spaces bordering it are upgraded. The viaduct becomes a large-scale connecting machine and a linear building. We view this ambivalence as a fundamental quality and use it as the architectural leitmotiv to symbiotically connect the new uses with the viaduct structure. The characteristic Cyclopean masonry here forms the central atmospheric element.

The new structures are deliberately restrained so as to emphasise the existing arches. In fitting-out the interiors the future users can choose from a kit of elements or design the spaces themselves.