The project is the First Place Award of an invited urban design competition. Located in Esslingen, Switzerland, a small town outside Zurich, the competition asked for new definitions for the community between the city and the country, a syntheses of living and working as well as proposals for alternative energy use.
The program is a Town Center for Esslingen: 50 housing units, office, retail, and light industrial space, train station, post office, station restaurant and cafe, co-operative market, and an underground parking structure.
The existing context is largely defined by the open space and formation of the natural landscape. The project is an architectural response to the existing environment, based on readings of the topography, vegetation, and river, as well as solar orientation and views to the nearby Alps.
From the topography, water, and vegetation, a penetrable wall is delineated with the office, retail, and light industrial buildings.
On the south side of the site, the quality of the open space is emphasized. Here are the Light Rail Station, Bus Transportation Square, Post Office, Market, and Parking.
A dense residential fabric occupies the north side of the site.