EUROPAALLEE 21. Lagerstrasse House
Europaallee is expanding. The major bank UBS AG has already relocated to the new building, named Europaallee 21, situated beside Zurich’s main train station and its university of teacher education. Three renowned european architectural firms have designed the ensemble of four buildings: MAX DUDLER, ANNETTE GIGON / MIKE GUYER ARCHITECTS and DAVID CHIPPERFIELD ARCHITECTS
"See all buildings of Europalle 21 ensemble":http://goo.gl/d1DZj
The urban plan for the site between Zurich’s Lagerstrasse and the track bed, to which Europaallee 21 belongs, dates back to a two-stage study commissioned by SBB AG in 2006 that Max Dudler won. On Max Dudler’s initiative, the competition’s runner up – the consortium Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer Architects and David Chipperfield Architects – was invited to collaborate on the development of Construction Site C based on the winning competition design. The UBS complex comprises four buildings, grouped like windmill sails around a public courtyard accessible from four sides. The individual buildings are connected
by bridges to form a unified whole. Max Dudler designed two of the buildings, the remaining two being designed by David Chipperfield Architects and Gigon/Guyer Architects respectively. The collaborative nature of the new ensemble – the result of close cooperation between the three architectural firms – is in keeping with the major bank’s own image.
UBS’s representative offices will be in Europaallee 21 of central Zurich’s new Europaallee district. Following Kees Christiaanse’s masterplan, this district is being developed alongside the narrowed tracks of Zurich’s main train station. Europaallee 21 is situated between Lagerstrasse and the track bed. Construction Site A lies to the east, and Construction Site E to the west. The planned completion date for the new Europaallee district is 2020. The new district will incorporate 6 000 workplaces, 2 500 study spaces, 300 apartments, one hotel, shops and restaurants as well as other leisure activities. On Construction Site A, Europaallee Quarter’s first new edifice, completed in autumn 2012, was a four-building ensemble by Max Dudler, which houses Zurich’s University of Teacher Education, as well as a shopping mall and offices. Prior to the decision to develop the tract of land in 2006, the area was being used by the Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss Postal Service and was not accessible to the public.
The office building designed by Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer Architects is located in the south-east corner of the ensemble and opens onto Lagerstrasse. Its multi-facetted volume reacts to the various urban planning requirements, building regulations, and functional specifications and derives from them an unexpected articulation. On the ground and first floors, the body of the building is set back from the street line, forming a covered entrance area as well as a welcoming gesture. Recesses and projections on the upper levels, modulate the volume, forming the attic story and bridge connections, as well as enlarging the office space.
A café, retail space and a generous entrance hall are located on the ground floor. The lobby can be accessed from both the street and the courtyard. It provides the main entrance to the office and conference rooms on the seven upper floors. A further access option is offered by a passageway encircling the courtyard on the first floor, which connects the four buildings.
Wide-spanning concrete floors, a minimum of columns as well as the staircases and elevator cores constitute the Load-bearing structure of the building. Concrete was used in refined forms – as terrazzo and cast stone flooring – for the ground floor and the staircases.
The double-layered building skin consists of an inner metal and glass façade with variously cadenced window partitions, and an outer, ventilated layer of single glazing with metallically shimmering fabric inserts. The outer panes provide noise protection from the street, wind protection for the sunshades and also afford privacy to those inside, without compromising the views from inside the offices. The outer glass panes are arranged at varying angles to each other, generating additional slits for ventilation and, depending on the lighting conditions, a subtle play of different reflections. This lends the impression of a curtain-wall façade – in the truest sense of the word.
Building Volume
Gross floor area: 13 680 m2
Gross building volume: 51 000 m3
Summary
575 workplaces, ground floor with entrance hall, retail space, café, office space on seven floors
EUROPAALLEE 21 BUILDING ENSEMBLE
Building volume
Site surface area: 7 400 m2
Gross floor area: 56 700 m2
Gross building volume: 213 000 m3
Competition
Two-stage study with pre-qualification January–August 2006
1st place: Max Dudler, Zurich
2nd place: consortium Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer Architekten and David Chipperfield Architects, Berlin
Timeline
Planning/implementation: 2007–2013
Draft project: March–October 2007
Building application: September 2008
Beginning of construction: May 2010
Completion: February 2013
Planning/Implementation
Planning committee
Max Dudler Gigon/Guyer David Chipperfield (as general planner until TU Submission)
Credits
General Contractor:
Implenia Schweiz AG, Dietlikon
Project Management: Mark van Kleef, deputy manager Daniel Hövels (Max Dudler’s office)
Landscape architects: Schweingruber Zulauf Landschaftsarchitekten, Zurich
Structural engineers:
Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner Beratende Ingenieure VBI GmbH, Berlin
Dr. J. Grob & Partner AG, Winterthur
Electrical engineers:
bürgin & keller management & engineering ag, Adliswil
Thomas Lüem + Partner AG, Dietikon
Building services:
Polke, Ziege, von Moos AG Ingenieure für Gebäudetechnik, Zurich
Building physics/acoustics:
Kopitsis Bauphysik AG, Wohlen
Fire protection engineers:
Gruner AG Ingenieure und Planer, Zurich
Lighting Designers:
matí AG Lichtgestaltung, Adliswil
Façade planning:
gkp fassadentechnik ag, Aadorf
Security planning/Door Management:
Amstein + Walthert AG, Zurich
Gastronomy planning:
planbar ag, Zurich
Quantity surveyor and scheduling:
Freiraum Baumanagement AG, Zurich (until TU Submission)
