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First price for Stücheli Architekten.

AXA Leben AG intends to leave its premises close to Winterthur station and reposition the site, which was built in 1991. A private study commission took place among six architecture firms with the aim of developing possible scenarios that make full use of the central location. The only requirement was that one of the scenarios focus on student accommodation along Gertrudstrasse. Stücheli Architekten’s successful project proposal divides the buildings into two distinct functionalities. As far as possible, the functional changes will take place within the structure of the existing buildings, and will implement new living and working formats.

The consistent separation of the two building structures, which i.a. allowed the creation of a spacious courtyard, and the remote depth of intervention convinced the jury. The project was unanimously recommended for further processing.

First place for the team comprising Stücheli Architekten and Bryum Landschaftsarchitekten.

The plot to the east of the Effretikon railway station is to be compacted based on a master plan (Morger Partner Architekten, 2014). The current study commission covers the first of five stages. The U-shaped dimensions and the building height were specified, as was the desired distribution of uses (70% residential, 30% commercial). A highly flexible and adjustable mix of apartment spaces was required during the design of the layout.

The project responds to the planned urbanisation with an urban building and outdoor design geared towards the surrounding environment. The apartment layouts are based on a 3.5-room apartment module and can be expanded, downsized or converted with minimal or no construction effort using connecting rooms and zoning. ‘The project is coherent and intelligent in terms of urban development, architecture and technical requirements,’ said the eight-person jury in their concluding statement, and recommended the project for further processing out of five contenders.

1st price for the team comprising Stücheli Architekten and Nipkow Landschaftsarchitekten.

The Zentrum Regensdorf (Regensdorf centre) between the railway station and the village centre returns to an idea from 1969 which was never completed to its original planned extent. Next to the building complexes with the Mövenpick Hotel and shopping mall, the current centre square remained undeveloped, and is currently barely animated. The goal of the test plan, launched in 2017, was to develop and upgrade the centre by adding a housing complex, making it a livelier place.

The project developed by the Stücheli/Nipkow team captures the local building structure with small buildings and open spaces and supplements the existing group of high-rises with a fourth residential tower. The new central square will be located away from the street and surrounded by the new buildings. The 12-person jury praised the ‘robust urban development concept’ that makes ‘a multifaceted contribution to the further development of the Zentrum Regensdorf’, particularly due to its great potential, and unanimously recommended the project for further processing out of three contenders.

On 24 January 2018, around 120 project participants and guests celebrated the topping out of the SNB building at Fraumünsterstrasse 8 in Zurich. Conversion and renovation work is set to finish in 2019.

‘The Swiss National Bank is forever,’ began Thomas Moser of the SNB, greeting those present with a quote from the former Chair of the Governing Board at SNB, Fritz Leutwiler – before adding, ‘But we don’t have forever to build it’. Around 120 guests came to celebrate the successful topping out of the structure at the nearby Metropol restaurant on the evening of 24 January 2018. Since the summer of 2016, the building on the Stadthausquai with the distinctive Lindt lettering has been hidden behind scaffolding. In March 2019, the public will once again be able to view this history-steeped building.

The building complex, which features a listed sandstone façade, was erected in 1889, making it older than the SNB itself – founded in 1907 – as Moser noted. Originally used as an residential complex, the individual buildings were acquired by the SNB one by one, starting in 1969, and transformed into offices. With a visitor waiting room and info centre on the ground floor, the modern new interior will be made accessible to the public for the first time in 50 years.