Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten

Description

The Allenmoosstrasse property in Zurich-Oerlikon lies close to the centre of town in an area which transitions from urban development structures to garden city settlements. The buildings that are typical of this location are all to be found in the square formed by the Schwamendinger-, Dörfli- and Regensbergstrasse: rows of housing, individual buildings and small-scale commercial buildings. This diverse development structure and the slightly sloping terrain offer residents extensive visual connections to green spaces and residential buildings from the 1940 and ‘50s. The project proposal occupies the acute-angled plot with a building with two flanks. To the south, the basic shape opens out onto an adjacent courtyard space and provides high quality living conditions away from the noise of the street. The house blends in with the architecture of the terraced buildings in the vicinity. The style of the main façade facing the end of the road appears familiar and the bay window recalls the window with flower boxes of the original residential building. The colours of the mineral-like, rendered surfaces are determined by the streets onto which they face. They are all of a soft shade of green. The render is slightly lighter in colour on the courtyard side and on the front sides of the building. The colour and the segmentation of the structure give the building a scale that is appropriate for the neighbourhood. The apartments develop outwards from the central stairwell into the three sides of the edifice, while their spatial organisation has been designed in response to traffic noise.