JAN BAUER

Binz+

2024
Diploma
Chair of Jan de Vylder at ETHZ

Aerial view of the Binz industrial quarter in Zürich
Binz, Zürcher Stadtteil K4 — The project explores the Zürich Binz, an industrial zone protected from the citys housing market insanity. How can we lift this protection without compromising its quality?
Site map with the project site marked in orange between industrial and residential zones
Portal to industrial pocket — The architecture inserts itself where industrial and residential regulatory zones meet.
Hand-drawn research sheet: Gesetzeshebel — how to live in Binz
Gesetzeshebel — how to live in Binz
Photo collage: office slab walling up against the residential neighbourhood
Border impressions collage

A monofunctional office building abruptly walls up against the long-established residential neighborhood. The regulatory framework intended to negotiate percisely such zone transitions, doesn’t prevent this massive 130m wall.

BZO Art. 19 Abs. 4:

Gegenüber Grundstücken in Wohn-, Quartiererhaltungs- und Kernzonen erhöht sich der Grundgrenzabstand um das Mass der Mehrhöhe, die die Gebäudehöhe von 12 m übersteigt, jedoch höchstens auf 16,5 m.

Collage of the desired border condition: inhabited industrial structure with balconies and greenery
Border desire collage
  1. Qualitäten — nicht Zahlen definieren die Stadt.
  2. Es darf gewohnt werden.
  3. Bestand ist grundsätzlich geschützt.
  4. Bestehende Nutzung gilt als Bestand, Verschieben ist erlaubt.
  5. Zusätzliche Nutzung ist mehrheitlich Wohnen zur Kostenmiete.
  6. Es gibt Vibe-Corridors und Strassenschluchten.
  7. Das Erdgeschoss unterstützt die Nutzung.
  8. Zäune sind verboten.
  9. Aussenräume sind vielfältig und kleinkörnig.
  10. Wohnen hat Bezug zum Vibe-Corridor.
  11. Stadtklimatischer Komfort ist gewährleistet.

We concluded our group research by defining these rules and set out to test them in the different scenarios of our solo projects.

A key architectural strategy is to transform with minimal intervention. Space claimed for living follows a rhytm where connecting to the serving outer structure at minimised removal of existing facade system elements.

Exploded axonometric of the transformation: existing facade system, claimed living spaces, added serving structure
Rythmic considerations

The added structure holds risershafts, wet-spaces and circulation. This eliminates the need for drilling and other invasions of the existing substance.

Floor plan and elevation of the transformed building
Floor plan · Elevation
Cross section through the existing building and the added outer structure
Cross section

The “Bande Actif” brings bathrooms and kitchens to the surface where they display the dynamics of domestic life in a layering play with the living rooms behind.

Elevation collage of the Bande Actif within the long facade
Bande Actif, collage

Common space and private rooms can be clustered to accommodate a multitude of household configurations.

Switchroom cluster layout plan
Switchroom cluster layout
Render of a horse silhouette diffused behind a lenticular glass wall
Lenticular Lensing
Physical test of a lenticular pane diffusing a person on a staircase

Lenticular lensing occurs when transparent mediae are formed form an array of small lens-shaped tubes. They diffuse contours along their direction reliably.

Interior mood render: bathroom band along the balcony layer in evening light
Mood render 1
View from the residential backyard towards the transformed industrial building at dusk
Night render of the street space along the new dwellings
Aerial photomontage of the transformed building in the Binz fabric