Editorial

In an era characterised by individual iconical buildings, euphoric enthusiasm for high-rise construction and megalomaniac expansion in Asia, „urban spaces“ may not seem an obvious theme. However, the spaces in the city are important, where they are not depictions of imaginary worlds that are projected onto facades but formed by the buildings themselves that contain and define places; inside and outside. Instead of founding new towns, today we convert existing ones, in many cases with a congenial zest for action. The dominant aspects are a fondness for the large-scale and the sheer size of the individual buildings that are intended to invoke an urban feeling. The structure of public and private zones or the articulation of facades and entrances are downgraded to themes of secondary importance. This issue takes five recent examples of urban conversions and looks at the quality of their streets and squares. From the perspective of the pedestrian we examine whether the aerial views that often seem to promise so much exert any real effect at ground level. For many of the contributions the authors have taken their own photographs or else explored those urban spaces under discussion together with the photographer. In the post-industrial era disused industrial premises have become prominent subjects for planning: in the 13th district in Paris surveys have revealed that the in-tended mix has not been achieved: there are still different residential areas for different classes of society, office areas, and institutional sectors, as if the influence of the Charter of Athens were still to linger. In Almere (NL) the mix of these functions, which is today considered crucial, was subsequently implanted in a dormitory town dating from the 1970s. The intention was to increase the density on the basis of a master plan by OMA and thus to introduce a pulsating everyday life into Amsterdam’s satellite town. In Ostfildern a satellite town of this kind has recently been founded: in Scharnhauser Park the residents have a view of greenery from their ersatz suburb. The Sulzer site in Winterthur, the pioneering Swiss project in the conversion of disused industrial premises, is, in terms of spatial quality and urban mix, probably the most successful of the projects shown. This restructuring was planned over a longer period of time and has resulted – at least for the time being – in a carefully calibrated heterogeneity of old and new. In Zurich North, the showcase of town planning in Zurich, this is not the situation. Here a great deal has been built in a short period of time. Bart Loomtsma asks what is to become of the empty-seeming spaces between the hollow facades of the newly built office and residential buildings (that, incidentally, are often difficult to tell apart). Martin Tschanz writes about the loss of street space in his essay on the city, which, in the words of Martin Steinmann, is increasingly becoming just an „assembly of houses“. The buildings of Zürich West, for instance, are little more than this. And, though they may bear impressive names, the entrances are annoyingly difficult to find. The Editors

Thema

Anneke Bokern
Stadtzentrum gesucht Masterplanung für ein Stadtzentrum in Almere von OMA

Klaus Dieter Weiss
Stadt im Park Zehn Jahre Stadtteil Scharnhauser Park, Stuttgart

Daniel Kurz
Schritt für Schritt Sulzer- und SLM-Areal in Winterthur

Thierry Mandoul, Enrico Chapel
Wagnis in Paris Zum Projekt Paris Seine Rive Gauche

Bart Lootsma
Angehäufte Entfremdung Neu-Oerlikon in Zürichs Norden

Martin Tschanz
Stadt der Häuser – Stadt der Heterotopien Ein Versuch aus Zürichs Westen

Forum

Kolumne: Igor Bauersima
EFH: Einfamilienhaus Aebischer-Vaucher in St.Ursen FR von 0815 Architekten
Innenarchitektur: Eine Designmesse als Begleitprogramm der Art Basel
Wettbewerb: Zwei Testplanungen auf dem Sulzerareal in Winterthur
Bauten: Verwaltungszentrum Mühlestrasse Ittigen BE von GWJ Architekten
Bauten: Bürogebäude in Lugano von Lucas Meyer und Ira Piattini
Bücher: Ernst Wiesner, Brno und die andere Moderne
Bücher: «Zwischen Stadt entwerfen» des Ladenburgers Forschungskollegs
Bücher: Michael Alder – Das Haus als Typ, von Ulrike Zophoniasson-Baierl
Bücher: Die Stadt der Architekten von Angelus Eisinger
Ausstellung: Mon beau sapin – L’art nouveau à La Chaux-de-Fonds
Ausstellung: Der Aussenraum im schweizerischen Städtebau im Werk von Gustav Ammann
Nachruf: Walter M. Förderer
bauen und rechten: Nachbarn torpedieren ein Bauvorhaben
Ausstellungen | Veranstaltungen | Wettbewerbe
Produkte | Neuerscheinungen

werk-Material

Lukas Meyer und Ira Piattini, Lugano: Bürogebäude in Lugano
GWJ Architekten, Bern: Verwaltungszentrum Mühlestrasse Ittigen BE