Photo © Alexander Gebtsroither
Photo © Roland Bernath
Photo © Roland Bernath
Photo © Roland Bernath
Photo © Roland Bernath
Photo © Roland Bernath
Photo © Roland Bernath
Photo © Roland Bernath
Photo © Alexander Gebtsroither
Photo © Alexander Gebtsroither
Ground Floor, Second Floor, Attic Floor

Apartment Building Schauenbergstrasse

 Back to Projects list
Location
Zurich, Switzerland
Year
2023

The new apartment building is located along a bend in Schauenbergstrasse on the northern slope of the Hönggerberg. It is part of a tranquil neighborhood of single-family homes and simple postwar linear buildings as well as larger ensembles of late-modernist housing further uphill. Given the strong diagonal slope of the site, the house finds its point of emphasis through a differentiated, sculptural form. This plasticity and the formal expression are individualistic. We have spoken of a Nordic fantasy. With its allusion to northern European ideas, there is nevertheless a loose, contextual relationship to the neighborhood.

In a sense, the topography runs through the entire building. The pronounced slope and the uphill-facing west orientation are determining factors for the occasionally archaic-looking interior. A stepped section brings daylight deep into the building and creates different apartments on each floor. This produces a spatiality that is experienced in movement.

The perhaps somewhat anachronistic artisanship in the design finds expression in a distinctive material presence: bright slurry-coated brick in combination with wood clapboard siding, larch, and copper as well as oak, glazed ceramics, and natural stone define the feel.

Private Commission 2019
Construction 2020–2023

Other Projects by EMI Architekt*innen

Signau House und Garden
Zurich, Switzerland
Avellana Housing Complex
Zurich-Schwamendingen, Switzerland
Mixed-Use Building on the Speich Site
Zurich-Wipkingen, Switzerland
Guggach Residential Development
Zurich, Switzerland
Residential Development Riedacker
Zurich, Switzerland