The project focuses on two parameters to select images of Zürich buildings: Firstly, only selecting older buildings and secondly selecting images with good natural saturation. One step I decided to add further was another parameter: the silhouette. The GAN image was chosen for it’s strange silhouette, the interesting division of the frontal facade and because of the ambiguity of it’s scale, as it can be seen as a small object or even a large building. In this image we could see a clear horizontal division, typical to Zürich, with different elements such as balconies, windows and corniches. The silhouette on the other hand gives inspiration to work with the roof and its materiality. From the understanding of the image given by the critical drawing, multiple elements seemed to be interchangeable. Additionally, the GAN image could be at different scales while still keeping the same structure.
After some explorations, the decision to do a “Supersize Zurich” was taken. That means the division of the frontal façade would stay at four, while its height would increase, therefore the division of the levels will have to follow two different things. Firstly the GAN image and secondly the logic of housing in the altstadt made of multiple levels. The chosen site is at Strehlgasse 14. The building is at the end of a block in the city and has 3 facades. It’s the first building seen when going to the Rathausbrücke. This plays an important role as to show the frontal facade given by the GAN image.As said before, the duality between the overscaled GAN facade and the normal altstadt level separation lead to a proposal working with common spaces attached to the front and the private life happening in the back.
The program designation would be a habitation but in a mostly common way. This applies best to collocations or business people living 2-3 years in Zurich, so more short term habitation. In the meantime the need to work from home is getting more and more valued and therefore those people could need coworking spaces, which eventually will also be at disposal for public. As seen, the roof continuing on the side of the facade is covered in tiles, inkeeping with the style of covering buildings in Zürich. As we advance in the future, an interesting way to adapt this feature would be to use recycled material that can keep the same kind of style but make a step in the future of industry.