Wollishofen has an urban feel along Seestrasse and Albisstrasse: massive buildings line the street and give the impression of an enclosed development. Just beyond the first building depth, however, Wollishofen becomes suburban. Here, the building style is open and the compact structures are embedded in gardens. The new building volume – the keystone of the chain of buildings on the valley side of the street – defines the street space in a similar way to the existing one: alongside the street, continuous, unagitated.
Noise protection must not mean that the buildings turn away from the public space. On the contrary: bay windows, loggias and shops create an expression that faces the street, making the building porous and permeable. The shadows of the trees in the courtyards shimmer through the loggia glazings.
Even traffic noise has its good side: it prevents the extremely deep, insulated flat layouts that have become commonplace nowadays and gives us a good reason to develop «shallow» layouts instead. This costs a little more façade development, but allows for bright rooms, kitchens close to windows, bathrooms and staircases with natural light and intimate connections between inside and outside.
Each flat shares both the busy city side and the quiet courtyard side. The daytime areas of the flat face more towards the city, the night-time areas more towards the courtyard. Where you enter the flat, the street and courtyard are furthest apart. Where you leave it again and step outside – on the loggia – the street and courtyard come so close that they touch each other.
