Architectural excursion in Zurich
Kalkbreite © Müller Sigrist Architekten
Professor Emmanuel Rey's studio class of the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) went on an architectural excursion in the city of Zurich. This extra-mural teaching activity was an opportunity for the students to visit various contemporary operations including housing, commercial/office buildings, and public spaces coming into close resonance with the issues explored within the framework of the RHODANIE URBAINE design studio.
Architectural design is expected to play an important part in the search for alternatives to reorient urban development through densification strategies. By an approach at different scales, LAST's studio aims precisely at analyzing, exploring, and experimenting with specific issues to this contribution of architecture to the sustainability transitions of urban areas.
It is in this spirit that this excursion in Zurich was designed, with the objective of enabling students to discover different design issues related to urban densification and interact with practicing architects involved in such projects. The program of the day included a visit to the residential area of Werdwies, designed by Adrian Streich, the Limmatwest ensemble designed by the Kuhn Fischer Partner office, the Speich Areal mixed ensemble with Christian Indebitzin, partner in the Edelaar Mosayebi Inderbitzin office, and the Kalkbreite cooperative with Pascal Müller, partner in the Müller Sigrist office.
These multiple approaches helped to put into perspective issues of conceptual coherence, built morphology, spatiality, typology, and expression with broader themes related to the mutation processes of many urban areas.