Like cruise ships, two residential buildings have «dropped anchor» on the outermost edge of Zurich. The elongated structures continue the patchwork of settlement patterns in the neighbourhood, but instead of adopting their small scale, they anticipate the large width of the nearby landscape. Circumferential bands of aluminium sheet structure the façade. Artist Jürg Stäuble has inscribed these bands with a perforated pattern based on the superimposition of two waves that spread orthogonally across the façade. «The effect is multifaceted. From a distance, the vibrating ornament makes the building stand out on the edge of the city. In reflective aluminium as black areas, and backlit as small islands of light, the perforated patterns stand out on the façade. Reflected several times by the window panes, they wander across the floors and walls inside with the daylight in infinitely variable ways, fleetingly taking on the form of Moorish motifs, Jean Arp, mercury, clouds, egg yolks.» (Annina Zimmermann in the «Kunst und Bau der Stadt Zürich» information sheet)
Esch Architekten
