pool Architekten

Description

Katharina Sulzer Square was the centre of the foundries and thus of the Winterthur Sulzer site. It is characterised by the industrial character of the factory buildings made of yellow-baked bricks and the surrounding crane runway. The new ZHAW University of Applied Sciences for Health is being built on the footprint of the former Hall 52 and accentuates the large form and historical appearance of the ensemble with its high volume. Although the building stands on a square, the university does not have its own outdoor space. This was compensated by an interior atrium. A ring of circumferential galleries demarcates the courtyard and, with its grid-like structure, forms a counterpart to the monumental exterior façade. V-shaped beams with skylights span the atrium. In the inner courtyard, lecture halls and practice rooms are stacked in an offset manner. This creates generous squares and terraces that can be used as foyers and meeting zones as well as work and study areas. If you enter the building from Katharina Sulzer Square, a view up to the sky opens up; the view of the stacked volumes reveals an abstract, three-dimensional spatial structure in exposed concrete. Moving upwards, one discovers different earth-coloured floor coverings on each floor. Named after the Swiss midwife Adeline Favre, the country’s largest training centre for health professions accommodates around 2,000 students and 300 employees.