"AIRSPACE": The Circle at Zurich Airport
The AirSpace project seeks to integrate elegance in design with a sense of timelessness in an architecture that provides engineered precision and sophistication to a wide range of varied and diverse functions.
The basic premise of AirSpace is the housing and accommodating of a wide range of functions centered on luxury commerce, state of the art medical facilities, cultural venues and higher education facilities, all in close proximity to the active and key hub of the Zurich Airport. The architectural isolation is the design and implementation of a three story plinth above the Zurich Circle roadway below that adjoins the existing Airport plan and infrastructure. Above this plinth are four distinct towers each sitting in close proximity to each other and between each a 'external galleries' that both connect and celebrate nature and landscape by way of introducing these aspects to the interior spaces of the AirSpace. The tower forms, being
predicated on being taught elegant volumes take their design inspiration from the powerful horizon line that surround the city of Zurich and visible from the Zurich, articulated by snow capped mountains and open sky. The Swiss landscape has a particular quality of light that is brought to the building’s design by way of articulated glass and louvers that 'play' against the curvature of the facades and the particularity the light that also illuminates the white jagged peaks visible on the horizon.
The conceptual underpinning of AirSpace are the creation of 'activated' urban spaces that are experienced within and on the third level of the project. The “AirSpace” itself is expressed and articulated as a public realm occupying the space between the plinth architecture and the four towers situated above. This public AirSpace level, while acting as a spatial break between the functions located within the plinth and the towers is also an important public event space that connects the horizontal levels of programmed space with the ambitious and open verticality of the atriums above.
The AirSpace project by Asymptote is designed to accommodate a diverse and highly dynamic set of programs and uses housed within a strong and 'clean' architectural statement that responds not only to the uniqueness of the dynamic programming and purpose, but also to its important location and siting at Zurich Airport. The massing and articulation of the four distinct towers lend the project a scale that is tailored to the an identity centered on themes of flight, transience, technological elegance and engineered functionalism, all key aspects and requirements of a brand such as Zurich Airports.
The AirSpace project by Asymptote is predicated and conceptually based on being both a contemporary architectural solution looking forward
to the notion that Airports will continue to serve not only as transportation hubs and places of transit, but also as important urban environments that utilize the energy and action of flight, travel, internationalism and glamour with urban experience, key facilities and in effect be seen more and more as 'addendum' to city space in these respects.
