DIETMAR EBERLE

Architects: Baumschlager-eberle architekten

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Year: 2015

Images/text from: https://www.baumschlager-eberle.com

By the Architects:

The remit for the exterior here was to create a harmonious ensemble that simultaneously stood on its own architectural merits and provided a meaningful addition to the surrounding built environment. The interior was to provide an upmarket residential space comprising apartments with a variety of different layouts that offered both wide-open vistas and intimacy. The name, casual yet cosmopolitan, it all: The Metropolitans.

More than just architectural accents, these elegant residential towers make a statement, forging a new identity for Zürich’s aspiring Leutschenbach district. The two 60m-high towers are characterised by a bright, projecting facade in limestone concrete that underscores their clean, straight lines and gives then a timeless, exclusive feel. Exciting dialogue between the towers and with their surroundingsIn terms of their overall effect, in an architecturally disparate environment where individual buildings stand mutely side-by-side, these two interacting tower blocks combine to form a shared outdoor space that also provides access to the building. The immediate residential setting is designed to blend into the existing exterior space, creating a coherent, exclusive urban world. 

The generous, open architectural approach has produced a stylish residential development in which the two buildings are encased in a framework of balconies that gives the apartments a high degree of intimacy, while the open space in front of the buildings bridges the distance to the inner facade, the building’s insulating shell. The apartments measure between 75 and 200m2 and are set over nineteen storeys. Design flexibility, generosity and prestige Inside, openness is again the order of the day. The windows extend from floor to ceiling and glazed balustrades offer unhindered views across the city to the distant Alps, creating wide-open vistas to the exterior and generous spatial proportions and freedom inside. The lack of load-bearing walls inside the flats gives considerable flexibility in layout planning, allowing the space to be tailored to individual requirements. All of The Metropolitans’ 212 apartments have high ceilings, while its “attic” apartments feature duplex areas. Spacious and finished in high-quality materials, prestigious entrances and landings emphasise the urban feel and photo art by Alfonso Zubiaga in the lift lobbies reflects the metropolitan theme. The highlight comes at the very top: roof terraces on both towers house “sky lounges” with panoramic views open to all occupants. 

Architects: Baumschlager-eberle architekten

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Year: 2015

Images/text from: https://www.baumschlager-eberle.com

By the Architects:

Start-ups, young design consultancies and expanding businesses need room in which to refine and develop their ideas. In concrete terms, they need affordable business space that is modular and flexible, will grow with them and can accommodate changing working structures simply and easily. The remit here was to create an office and service building for this target group in the Zürich district of Binz. It was to offer units from 60m2, a flexible floor plan and an open feel with informal meeting areas and service provision.

What have these three buildings got to do with Huey, Dewey and Louie – or Tick, Trick and Track as they are known in German? Just like Donald’s nephews, they are smart, resourceful and daring, an ensemble of upmarket shell construction designed for cost-conscious tenants with a range of different requirements. Thanks to its open construction grid and modular, pre-fitted technical services, all the rental space can be adapted to specific needs. The heart of the complex is the first-floor creative mall that links the three buildings and provides informal meeting and events space. The ground floor houses shops, cafes and restaurants.The facade: elegance, connection, function The exterior appearance is characterised by an elegant concrete curtain-wall facade that gives the building structure and underlines its architectural coherence. The thermal envelope with extensive window glazing is supplemented by concrete elements that encircle the buildings, projecting out far enough to provide natural shading and dispense with the need for additional exterior protection from the sun. In architectural terms Tic, Tric and Trac blend perfectly into this largely commercial district. 

Architects: Baumschlager-eberle architekten

Location: St. Gallen, Switzerland

Year: 2002

Images/text from: https://www.baumschlager-eberle.com

By the Architects:

A complicated backstory gives way to clear architectural statement. Baumschlager Eberle Architects were invited to join the Achslengut II project late in the day after a Swiss firm had won the design competition. With the land-use plan already finalised and the linear structure, block depths and building lengths for the first phase of construction already decided, our first task was to modify the land-use plan for the sloping section of the site.

As a result, phase II of the project offers a radically different and significantly more rational planning scheme comprising eight point blocks. These compact structures feature internal access routes and a façade-mounted balcony zone running around each building.

Subtle use of topography, optimum views

The development offers high standards of comfort despite the large number of apartments. The carefully considered layout of the blocks in relation to the site as a whole and their staggered heights guarantee the necessary distance between buildings as well as optimum transparency, exposure to sunlight and views of Lake Constance.

Façade-mounted sliding panels of matt glass help to modulate distance and visibility between neighbouring blocks, protect personal privacy and mitigate the obtrusiveness of individual balcony use, providing a simple means of separating public and private spheres. And it is, of course, this second glass skin that makes the architectural design so special. Easy to move, the panels are in constant use by occupants, giving the buildings an ever-changing exterior appearance.

Everything from lofts to five-bedroomed apartments!

Each block is organised around a common stairwell. White marble floors and elegant, sculptural banisters of black steel give these semi-public areas a certain grandeur, transforming them into stylish foyers. Ancillary spaces and wet areas are concentrated in the building core. Other rooms extend along the façades, their tall windows giving onto the balcony zones that run around the buildings. The load-bearing structure is designed to allow bespoke floor plan organisation. 

Architects: Baumschlager-eberle architekten

Location: Den Bosch, Netherlands

Year: 2014

Images/text from: https://www.baumschlager-eberle.com

By the Architects:

The task here was to design a new residential and office district on a former industrial site facing the medieval old town in the Dutch city of ´s-Hertogenbosch, creating an urban mix of 1,400 apartments, 180,000m2 of office space, schools and restaurants. In particular, the aim was to create a point of reference in this new district.

The result was a new landmark building for the city. “Jheronimus”, named after the painter Hieronymus Bosch, who once lived here, is a restrained and elegant 74m-high stand-alone tower. Located at the southern entrance to the new district, it comprises 85 apartments of different sizes spread over 22 storeys and, on the ground floor, shops, cafes and a terrace overlooking the newly created waterway. 

Paying tribute to the medieval cathedral and a 1970s high-rise office building nearby, the block neither towers above them nor outshines them with fanciful forms or garish colours. Instead, its clean square shape forms a calming anchor, bringing together the disparate collection of new builds in the quarter. It offers all the merits of a stand-alone building whilst at the same time making reference to its surrounding built environment.

The structure, with its two staggered heights, is divided into base, shaft and crown. The lower floors have projecting wrap-around balconies, the storeys above integrated loggia. Measuring just 28m x 28m at its base, the tower’s relatively narrow footprint means that most of the apartments look out on at least two sides, giving them something of a penthouse feel. The reinforced concrete construction with load-bearing core and a 3.9m support grid allows flexible space allocation inside. And quality is naturally the order of the day when it comes to materials and insulation. 

Providing a uniform yet varied envelope, the double-skin façade gives the building a multi-layered surface and enables its occupants to frame their own views. The semi-transparent, patterned outer glass panels can be moved as desired, providing privacy and protection from the elements. Meanwhile, the top five floors are clad in white plate glass, giving a lighter effect. Subtly suggestive of a light-house, this cladding underscores the building’s understated presence.