2013, Scheffelstrasse, Zurich, 1st prize

The urban site is located in the immediate vicinity of Bucheggplatz square in the heart of Wipkingen district, Zurich. The main traffic axis to the north has a considerable impact on the site with its noise emissions. The narrow and long construction site engenders a complex building law situation.

The type of building, which is developed in a perpendicular direction to the slope, reacts to these conditions with skillful protrusions and recesses. Towards the street, the building appears as a self-contained entity, towards the garden as a disintegrated construction which, with its many small room alcoves, takes up the scale of the adjacent settlement pattern.

A building structure with slightly offset floors is the direct response to a sloping topography. A sloped roof rejoins them to form an overall shape and creates space for overheight rooms in the attic and on the floor below. All apartments are designed in the sense of a space continuum, which can be converted into a "loft-like" apartment by removing the walls. The balconies and terraces are soundproofed and face west into the open spaces of the neighbourhood.