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Wood

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Glass

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Materials Matter on 3 Zurich Apartment Exteriors

Responding to Zurich's climate and love of modern design, these facades make the most of wood, glass and concrete

John Hill August 29, 2012

Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor of Architecture and Master in Urban Planning degrees, and over ten years experience in architectural practice, split between Chicago and NYC. Currently I'm focused on writing and online pursuits. My daily blog can be found at http://archidose.blogspot.com

Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor... More

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On a trip to Zurich, Switzerland, I scouted some apartment buildings to share on Houzz. Given the cost of land and living in the city, most of the housing is multifamily. The three apartment buildings featured here have many similar characteristics, but each is very different.

One is covered in wood, another one is mainly glass and the last is almost wholly concrete. Each building is within walking distance of, among other things, the main train station and the river; the latter is a particularly popular place for swimming in summer.

Contemporary Exterior by John Hill

Wood

The Lindenrinde ("Linden Bark") apartment building, designed by Ken Architekten, features eight apartments on four floors. It is tucked into the middle of a large block with some mature trees. The building takes its name from a large linden tree next to the building.

Contemporary Exterior by John Hill

The vertical pinstriping of the building picks up on another name for the linden tree: lime. Lime green alternates with yellow and brown around the building. The darkest brown aligns with the windows, which include exterior blinds for keeping out the sun.

Contemporary Exterior by John Hill

The openings on the elevation in the sun (previous photo) are almost all closed, while the openings in the shade here are almost all open. This stems from the fact that buildings in Zurich do not have air conditioning. Period. Be it a store, an office, an apartment, a train station. It is not worth the effort when the period of summer heat is so short. So during those times when it is hot in Zurich, cutting down on direct sunlight is very important.

Contemporary Exterior by John Hill

Zurich is also a city that embraces modern architecture, though not all of it is distinctive. Buildings like the Lindenrinde veer from the norm without being formally different: This is still a boxy building with a regular arrangement of windows.

Modern Exterior by John Hill

Glass

Theo Hotz Partner designed this apartment building on Bäckerstrasse in a much denser part of Zurich. The corner building stands out because of its floor-to-ceiling glass exterior wall, but also because of the rooftop plantings that soften the straight lines.

Modern Exterior by John Hill

The building, which is longer one one side than the other, is not a straightforward glass box; it is eroded at the bottom and the top. These relate to the ground-floor retail stores and the special apartments on the roof. What underlies the whole is a grid of concrete horizontals and red verticals; the latter are especially important, as will be seen.

Modern Exterior by John Hill

A close-up of the facade shows the large panes of fixed glass that alternate with two narrow verticals: one glass and one red. Shades and blinds cover the windows to cut down on direct sunlight. Most of the modern buildings in Zurich feature horizontal blinds, many of them on the exterior of the glass facades.

Modern Exterior by John Hill

The red panel is actually a door that opens to allow for ventilation. Here we can see one panel open and one closed; the former includes a small railing for safety.

Exterior by John Hill

Concrete

The level of craft in building with concrete in Zurich — and all of Switzerland, for that matter — is higher than in most of the world. Most exteriors formed with reinforced concrete are painted, resembling stucco more than concrete, but many new buildings leave the material exposed. The qualities of concrete are typically not evident at first glance, but they reveal themselves the closer one gets.

Exterior by John Hill

Concrete allowed architects Andreas Futhimann Gabrielle Hachler, with xpace architecture, to shape the exterior, placing fireplaces at the corner (to anchor it and make the building appear taller) and cantilevering part of the upper floors. The building cuts in and out to set itself apart from the neighbors.

Contemporary Exterior by John Hill

The intentional shaping of the building is apparent in this view looking up at one of the corners. The texture and seams on the concrete start to become apparent this close.

The large window openings are separated into large and small panes. Both can be opened slightly, but the smaller one can be opened all the way inside, hence the railing across the window.

Contemporary Exterior by John Hill

A detail of the concrete and windows reveals an intentional messiness in the joints and in the texture. It is as if the architects wanted to violate the grid of different-size windows that wraps the building; very few of the joints follow the windows.

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Comments (4)

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thickskin

These buildings, although they are modern fits nicely into their surroundings. As a matter of fact they compliment each other. SCALE AND BALANCE: Unlike the Homes featured a couple weeks ago (modern Canadian homes showcase), where they stick out like sore thumbs.

1 Like September 2, 2012 at 4:31AM

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reannarose

Color is nice in Switzerland. In the winter it can be rather depressing and boring. I think I like the graffiti the most. But it is a bit sad most of the buildings in Switzerland are going so modern that they are almost losing their charm. What little charm they had to begin with. As much as they dislike the Germans and foreigners coming in on their territory they are giving away that little charm to too many modern apartments. They should try building some smoke free apartment buildings. Noisy, smoky, and ruff interiors make for good bachelor living if your a rich banker. They suck really just suck in all ways possible.

1 Like September 2, 2012 at 4:47AM

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shoetasch

very nice!

Like September 2, 2012 at 7:17AM

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