Housing is Urbanism
Stückler housing, Zürich-Altstetten © Adrian Streich Architekten
Adrian Streich, architect in Zurich, was the guest of Prof. Emmanuel Rey’s studio at the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) to present his architectural approach. Entitled “Housing is Urbanism”, his lecture allowed the students to understand the issues inherent in the development of complex housing projects in dense urban contexts.
A graduate of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Adrian Streich founded his own architectural practice in 1997. He has realized numerous buildings, mainly housing projects and schools. He was a visiting professor at the EPFL in 2013-2014.
The conference illustrated the agency's rigorous and creative approach to the issue of housing. It focused on four different projects in Zurich, each located in a particular area of the city. As a starting point, the firm analyzes and interprets the urban environment and the history of the site - without bias and in all its complexity - in order to propose buildings that have conceptual clarity and that are meticulously integrated into their context. The buildings in Letzibach, Stückler, Hohl- and Freihofstrasse, and Greencity are convincing not only because of their integration into the site, the diversity of typologies, the quality of the housing and common spaces but also because of their attention to the materiality and the execution of the construction.
Resonating with the issues addressed in the studio RHODANIE URBAINE, the conference allowed to put into perspective the didactic approach, from the urban project to the construction detail as an innovative process for the transformation of urban territories in transition.