The city council of Zurich is planning new construction of educational facilities in the plots in Geroldstrasse, along the train tracks. To preserve the qualities of the site, we maintain two-thirds of the plot and densify the program into a cluster and provide a sequence of new public spaces for the city. Close to the train station, the new school connects the pedestrian path along the riverfront with the new boulevard.
We designed the building with a functional and structural emphasis on circulation. Today, a corridor typically acts as a pragmatic link between spaces. Nevertheless, looking back into the past, the corridor used to be the largest room in a house since its function was to give access and provide an area for public life. We propose to stack circulation spaces volumetrically and connect them with independent stairs, turning them into the central element of the project. The main passages create areas for gathering and meeting throughout multiple levels. The circulation network lets the street penetrate the building as the first layer of the corridor, and with openness, galleries encourage interaction. We cut several wells into the halls, providing daylight and views between the levels.
Corridors are the voids that act as a link and as a space. Without these voids, the entire building loses its meaning: the appearance of circulation remains just as the meaningless passage from one point to another. There would be no place for interaction, meeting, or public indoor activities. The central space is a fixed element around which we achieve maximum flexibility. In addition to the corridor walls, only the horizontal slabs and facades are structurally active, supporting the whole building.
The Zurich Music school was developed with Helena Briones. Check out the rest of the documentation here.