Studio Gugger | Areal Thurgauerstrasse

The corner plot of Thurgauerstrasse/Glattparkstrasse forms with the opposite building construction the gateway to Opfikon and to the Glattpark. Located on the border between Zurich and Opfikon, with direct access to the traffic artery Thurgauerstrasse by public transport, the plot will host a Renault car dealer, a hotel and residential complex for people of different ages and backgrounds.

It proposes a building ensemble that, in its height development, does justice to the prominent position and proposes differentiated living and business typologies in its volumetric form.

The overlap of noise control regulations, height restrictions, border distances and the 2h shadow control with the desired small-scale residential use is a particular challenge and the driving force for the volumetric development.

The tower in the south uses the allowed height development and steps back from the Glattparkstrasse in favour of a forecourt. The Renault showroom will be generously and prominently located at the intersection as a head building. Accordingly, the space of the Renault garage forms the connecting base of the new development. It will provide a spacious showroom pavilion on the forecourt but at the same time will stand as high and independent volume.

The residential block standing along the Thurgauerstrasse with its acoustically effective, deep balcony or pergola layer offers optimally illuminated living space. Backward flourishes, protected from the road noise, the green urban terrace which is bounded in the north and west by the lower part of the housing volume.

Retail space with gastronomic offer can be found in the northeastern area along the Thurgauerstrasse. The arrangement of a ground-level courtyard extends the street space deep into the plot and offers lively outdoor area as well as entrance spaces to the building.

The aim of the project is to create a maximum of living quality and independence in the market environment and to develop the area as a diversified vertical quarter.

Business, hotel and residential uses, each with different usage horizons, are stratified. In order to benefit maximally from visual relationships and reduced noise pollution, rental apartments are generally located in the upper floors, from the 8th floor in the tower, or 7th floor in the longitudinal block. Among them are the residential uses with limited or short stay; student living in the level around the terrace, the hotel in the tower. The stratification of the uses and forms of living can be read off the façade design and find a correspondence in the levels and uses of the street floor and the raised urban terrace.