SBB Werkstadt

Zurich, Switzerland

Visualization © KCAP

Architects: KCAP Zürich

Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Year: 2016-ongoing
Client: SBB Immobilien
Program: 42.000 m2 transformation of workshops in to an urban production site
Role: Urban planner
Participating parties: denkstatt sarl, Studio Vulkan Landschaftsarchitektur, KEOTO, BAKUS, IBV Hüsler, Baubüro in situ, SBB Immobilien, Planwerkstadt

The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) plans to transform one of its inner city workshops into an urban manufacturing hub. The Werkstadt Zürich project offers the opportunity to establish a sustainable mix of traditional and innovative business, services and leisure facilities centrally located in Zurich. The plan concerns one of the last major inner-city areas and is developed in close cooperation with the City of Zurich. The city government is committed to creating good conditions for the “urban workplace of the future”. With the forthcoming transformation of SBB’s workshops, the 42.000 m2 area will be home to innovative commercial and industrial companies and start-ups, as well as a place of culture.

The architecture of the workshop buildings and their location on Hohlstrasse and the track area offer good opportunities for the gradual opening and conversion of the site. An important component of this transformation strategy is the synergy between the identity-creating, historical building fabric, the public use of the exterior spaces and the possible structural densification. The project is driven by the idea of an open, flexible urban development, which prepares the area in several stages and with careful structural measures for new uses and challenges and connects it as an urban space with the adjoining neighbourhoods.