“Zurich is being renovated, not demolished”

Twice as many people will live in the new Salzweg settlement (visualization of the winning project by Zimmermann Sutter Architects) than in the old one, which is being demolished.

Photos: Zimmermann Sutter Architects (visualization)

Zurich City Councilor Daniel Leupi responds in the ‹NZZ› to the accusation of tabula rasa politics. Also in the press: the competition for the renovation of Frauenfeld Castle and the Oskar Bider Hangar.

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“The building authorities must get away from their tabula rasa policy,” demanded the ‘NZZ’ on March 28, 2022. Daniel Leupi, city councilor and head of the finance department of the city of Zurich, comments in the same newspaper: The accusation is wrong, the The proportion of replacement new buildings is significantly lower than that of repairs. The reduction to the topic of embodied energy does not go far enough: «Not every repair has a better balance sheet in terms of embodied energy than an energy-efficient new building. In addition, those entitled to vote have commissioned non-profit property developers such as cooperatives, the city or foundations to increase the proportion of non-profit housing in the total stock of rental apartments to a third – replacement new buildings usually offer more affordable living space and conserve the scarce resource of land. » This and the minimum occupancy required for urban settlements represent the greatest ecological lever. “It is to the credit of a group of young architects that they initiated the public discussion on the subject of replacement construction versus repair and further development of existing buildings,” writes Leupi. “This discussion is right and important, but it has to be conducted individually and differentiated for each project, which the city has been doing for many years.” Further news: – Schmidlin Architects win the competition for the renovation of Frauenfeld Castle. According to the St.Galler Tagblatt, the project uses the palace depot as the new reception hall for the museum and creates a direct link to the outside space. – The «Basler Zeitung» tells how Otto Rudolf Salvisberg founded the office Salvisberg & Brechbühl with Otto Brechbühl, from which the architectural office Itten+Brechbühl emerged, which today celebrates its 100th anniversary with an ideas competition and a…