Apartment House Reinhardstrasse

Zurich, Switzerland

Photo © Hannes Henz

Photo © Roger Frei

Photo © Hannes Henz

Apartment Buildings

Architects: spillmann echsle architekten

Year: 2012

Like force vectors, the apartment building’s irregular spatial structure pushes the projecting bay windows and balconies outward and interlocks with the urban space. The urban structure fits like a hinge into the dense neighbourhood of Zurich’s Seefeld.

The volumetric concept emerges from the building’s interior: the various room structures nestle around a central concrete core illuminated from above. The flats are entered via a central corridor from which the rooms fan out. A living room measuring over 40 m2 and illuminated on three sides contains a freestanding kitchen placed in the room as a work of carpentry. A large bay window or balcony connects the rooms outwards and spacious terraces extend the duplex penthouse flats into the urban space.
This dynamic internal spatial concept of room layers and bay windows, balconies and attic terraces is subtly distinguished by fine nuances in the exterior plaster. Rough, coarse and self-shading areas of trowel-thrown plaster contrast with fine and smooth bands. The façade’s precise articulation reinforces the reading of the building’s stories. Rigid openings corresponding to interior spaces are woven into a unified whole, bestowing the building with the desired urban character.