GFA Gruppe für Architektur
Conversion of museum into DSI Centre, University of Zurich
Description
The rooms of the former medical history
museum on the ground floor of the building that was built as a physics building
for Zurich University in 1885 were renovated and various office and seminar
rooms for the Digital Society Initiative, an interdisciplinary group of
scientists from Zurich University, were incorporated. With the new design concept, the goal was to re-establish the original quality
of the interior space originally planned by Semper’s student Otto Weber. For
this purpose, the built-in furniture used by the museum was removed and, as a primary
intervention, continuous wall cladding was installed. This incorporates the
required functions, gives a coherent expression to the rooms and grants the new
DSI Centre a specific character. The room-defining wall cladding is constructed
out of timber and includes space for meetings. Additionally, it includes the
necessary ancillary rooms and technology rooms, contains closets as well as
lockers and serves as an acoustical purpose. Thus, acoustic ceilings were only
necessary in the seminar room. The formerly sober-looking hallway was upgraded
to a central, communicative lounge area with new wooden panelling and built-in
benches. Two illuminated words by the media group Bitnik that refer to the
phenomena of virtual cohabitation in the digital world were
placed in the stairwell and the co-working space.