Wiel Arets Wins Europaallee ‘Site D’ Competition in Zurich

Wiels Arets Architects recently won the competition to design the Europaallee 'Site D' building in Zurich. The building features repurposeful office and retail space with future plans for a conversion into residential units. 'Site D' is described as a key enhancement for the growing district of Europaallee. Construction will begin in 2017.

Check out some renderings and more details of WAA's design below.

"‘Site D’ is the ‘cornerstone’ of Europaallee, an emerging mixed-use district adjacent Zürich’s central train station, and consists of highly flexible office and retail space.

This new building is an integral component of ‘Europaallee’, a currently emerging district adjacent to Zürich’s central train station. A plinth of retail programming anchors the project to its site, while its upper volumes consist of flexible office spaces that, due to their shallow depth and efficient façade grid, can be occupied by several individual companies or a larger singular tenant."

"These dual programs posed the challenge of creating two unique lighting and spatial requirements within this prominently sited building. The main entry has been positioned along the parallel ‘Europaallee’, and opens onto the ground floor’s main retail and circulation spaces. From the ground floor, a central staircase complemented by two ramping escalators traverses and connects these areas."

"Foreseeing a possible conversion into future residential units, the building’s flexible structure was designed to allow for such a repurpose of its program. The resulting silhouette, and the alignment of its highest points with the trackside façades of the two adjacent plots, will ensure a powerful and unified building amid the area’s planned structures, further defining the distinguished context of the surrounding ‘Europaallee’."

More info

Type: Office, Retail
Location: Zürich, Switzerland
Date of design: 2012 - 2013
Expected completion: 2019
Total Area: 20.000 m2
Architect: Wiel Arets
Project Team: Alexis Bikos, Jelle Homburg, Jochem Homminga, Boris Wolf, Roel van der Zeeuw, Tieme Zwartbol
Collaborators: Olivier Brinckman, Marcos Romeros
Client: SBB Immobilien
Consultants: Amstein + Walthert AG, JägerPartner AG SIA/USIC, B+P Baurealisation AG, GKP Fassadentechnik AG, Aadorf

 

For more details, click here.