Open House Zürich 2020: Architecture and City Planning
The Open House Zurich event showcases some architectural jewels as well as interesting aspects of the city and city planning. This year we visited two buildings, Tanzhaus, the former Neue Börse, and participated in Schilieren’s city planning tour.
Tanzhaus
After the former building burned down, they created a new, modern, concrete dance school at the Limmat riverside. It has special dance floors with slant walls ceiling-to-floor curtains for sound effects. The lighting effect from the Limmat River is special and a cafe is very welcoming with direct access from the popular riverside walking path. Luckily we were with our architect friend Daniela who could explain some aspects of the building in more detail.
Former Neue Börse (Stock Exchange)
This massive concrete building was built as a new stock exchange but by the time it was completed, digitalization had taken over and the stock exchange digitalized and automatized. Then this building was bought by an international education center and completely renovated. Guided by the chief architect, we discovered an airy reception area, a top-notch employee kitchen, and a breezy eating area as well as an expansive terrace. An amazing project!
Schlieren city planning
Led by a city planner of Schlieren who has been working in this community for around 15 years, we went through different parts of Schlieren, a square with modern bus stops, an apartment complex with small parks, a super modern school building, etc. The character of the town has changed from a rural dwelling to a rather industrial center with factories to a sleeping city with uncoordinated buildings and a square to, again, change into something completely different.
Now Tram 2 comes into Schlieren and people stream in and out to Zurich every 8 minutes which on its own is enough to change the character of the town.
The passionate city planner explained how her team works closely with landscape planners, increase the quality of life, turn this “broken” (unplanned and uncoordinated) city into a lively city where people enjoy living and feel part of the community.
At the end of the tour, we felt almost moved by the fact that there are a lot of professionals behind the scenes to make Zurich a great city.
Fly, Hike & Travel. 