Re-Arrangements

Located behind Zurich’s main station, the Sihlquai car park was originally designed as a temporary, modular structure. As the city moves away from car-focused planning, this project proposes repurposing it for housing. A crane redistributes its components, adapting the existing fabric while preserving its modular nature. The mushroom columns are extended with a plinths for adequate floor height, while facades, stairs, and service cores are added as plug-in elements. This approach retains the circular logic of the original structure while transforming it into a contemporary living space.

Behind Zurich’s Main Station, a car park - originally intended as a temporary structure - must be adapted to future needs of the city. The project proposes rearranging the modular car park structure within the neighborhood to create a new place for housing. The existing parking structure consists of mushroom columns, each composed of an H-profiled steel column and prefabricated concrete slab. The project begins by systematically disassembling the structure into its individual mushroom columns, following its original circular logic. Each mushroom column is extended with a plinth to achieve a floor height suitable for housing, then redistributed by a centrally positioned crane within the neighborhood to create housing-proportioned volumes. Additional components as façades, staircases, and service cores, are integrated through a plug-in system. The project envisions two new residential buildings that integrate into the existing social and architectural fabric. On the ground floor are communal spaces. The former petrol station serves as a covered outdoor area for a café, while the former car wash is repurposed as a workshop space. Together, they enclose a spacious courtyard that functions as both a social gathering place and an ecological niche. The building along Ausstellungsstrasse, integrates two rows of mushroom columns with newly inserted cores that provide access and infrastructure. The other is at Hafnerstrasse, featuring a single-row of mushroom columns with attached kitchen and bathroom oriels. By interweaving the structure into the existing urban fabric, the former car park remains a visible layer of the site’s palimpsest. Rather than demolishing existing infrastructure, the project repurposes and adapts it, contributing to the response of the housing crisis.