Congress Center Zurich

Combining 2 of 3 proposed, spatially disconnected diploma themes into one project, The Zurich Congress Centre rethinks the urban system of centrality and periphery and questions the isolated handling of building sites within such a system. It proposes a holistic contemplation of urban regions in which different sites can work together in symbiosis.

The Conflicts of Centrality The Papierwerd area in the heart of Zurich is under great pressure. The task of planning a convention centre at this location contradicts its inherent urbanity. The large program, the 240 days of vacancy every year, and the exclusiveness of a convention centre threaten the liveliness and urban qualities of the inner city. The Peripheral Counterpart In stark contrast to the inner city stands the Jelmoli storage building in Otelfingen, Zurichs agglomeration. Only partially used, it lies in the periphery of the city as an enormous reservoir of space. The Globusprovisorium and the Jelmoli storage hall are exemplary for an omnipresent mechanism: The inner city outsources undesired, spatially intense functions, such as logistics, production, and storage to the agglomeration. This is the only way it can maintain its density and intensity. The Crossing-Over By combining the two diploma topics A and B, both sites can function in symbiosis and can be read as two poles of the same urban system. The congress centre desired in Zurich can be realized by readopting the outsourcing relationship of city and periphery. Thus the lion’s share of its program is realized in Otelfingen, leaving only the representation and address in the inner city. In Bigness (or the problem of Large) Koolhaas explains the involuntary dualism of core and envelope in big buildings; „(...) the distance between core and envelope increases to the point where the facade can no longer reveal what happens inside. The humanist expectation of „honesty“ is doomed: Interior and exterior architectures become separate projects (…)“ In the Zurich Congress Centre, this fracture is amplified until the internal and the external are spatially disconnected. Held together only by the train line, they are realized as two projects in two different locations. Outsourcing the program of the convention centre to the Jelmoli storage hall frees the Papierwerd area to be a multi-layered, dense urban project.In this way, both sites can resolve their weaknesses, utilising the strengths of the other.