City
of Zuruch - Stadtpark Hardau
Competition Entry - 1st Phase
Zurich - Switzerland
2004
This competition entry for a new Stadtpark in Zurich proposes that the park becomes a cartographic map of itself and its history. The asphalt patch where green planes and watercourses will soon be built had become an improvised parking lot. Previously the area hosted a large sawmill, where wood was delivered, cut and then stacked to age. Studio Power proposes that the entire area is excavated and that a new parking area be covered with a thin concrete membrane. Natural forces metaphorically acting on this new membrane deform it as in nature; water pushing down cuts sharply into the land and creates a lake; trees pulled toward the sun create round hills. This process of deformation, of folding and pulling, create openings that allow for sunlight and air to penetrate into the parking structure below. A small pavilion is found at the heart of the park, between the forest the lake. Thin, precise metal blades sustain the roof of this wooden mill. |
