spillmann echsle architekten

The 123m long building parallel to the river Sihl is located on Kasernenstrasse 95-97 south west of Zurich main station. It was built between 1927 and 1930 by the brothers Adolf and Heinrich Bräm. The shell, a reinforced concrete structure with beamless floor slab and mushroom ceilings of 26cm spanning up to 9.5m, was the work of the Swiss engineer Robert Maillart. In spring of 1930 the post offices were put into operation with extensive conveyor belt systems.

The Sihlpost is of historical importance and is under monumental protection. It is one building of the Europaallee and was developed by the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways), renovated and converted into rentable commercial premises between 2013 and 2015.
The IT Tech Firm has its headquarters in California, and is further expanding its location in Zurich with a focus on engineering. A total area of around 60,000m2 in the Europaallee will be leased by the IT Tech Firm over the course of the next four years.

The first phase is the Sihlpost with an interior fit-out over four floors and a surface area of 5400m2 for 300 workstations.
In addition to office space, around 30 meeting rooms, a restaurant, 3 microkitchens (break rooms for informal discussions) and a lecture room for around 100 people were built in the monumentally protected structure. The architectural concept spans both the typology of post office buildings and of logistics. The post office style of the reception and restaurant incorporates grey wooden panelling, wooden framed partition walls with rippled glass and brass features, while the meeting rooms resemble wooden shipping crates that simultaneously separate each level into quiet workzones from the long service corridor. The coordination and integration of paritally visable building services and architectural design is of great importance.