E2A / Piet Eckert und Wim Eckert / Architekten ETH BSA BDA SIA AG

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© Jan Bitter
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© Jan Bitter

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E2a

ARCHITECTS
E2a

BUILDING PHYSICS
Zehnder & Kälin Ag

LIGHT
Ernst Basler + Partner Ag

CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
Ernst Basler + Partner Ag

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Ernst Basler + Partner Ag

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten Ag

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
Witzig Architekten Gmbh

FACADE PLANNING
Ernst Basler + Partner Ag, Zurich

BUILDING SERVICES
Ernst Basler + Partner Ag

PROJECT TEAM
Piet Eckert, Wim Eckert, Mirko Akermann, Samuel Benz And Sina Arzt, Antonia Herten, Ludovic Toffe

COMPETITION TEAM
Piet Eckert, Wim Eckert, Mirko Akermann, Chelsea Morrissey

FAÇADE PLANNING
Ernst Basler + Partner Ag

PHOTOGRAPHS
Jan Bitter

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Zurich, Switzerland

CATAGORY
Office Buildings

Text description provided by architect.

Today’s world is dominated as virtually never before by two antagonistic forces. Innovation and comfort are two conditions that seldom coincide. 

Rather they work against each other and in our life today, in this society and especially in the Swiss context they represent a conflict that is frequently underestimated.

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© Jan Bitter
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© Jan Bitter
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© Jan Bitter

Whereas innovation rests to a large extent on technology, and therefore on the belief that it is unobtrusively there for us at all times, the aspect of comfort is seen as the standard, as the status quo, and also potentially stands for an imagined sense of ease, for a safeguarding of what has already been achieved.

The circumstances of and particular form taken by innovation often erode the idea of continuity and its standard. For this reason in the Swiss understanding of sustainability, sufficiency, as a third pillar of innovation alongside efficiency and effectiveness, is probably the most unpopular criterion.

Now as before, reducing things to the merely adequate is underlined by an ethically moralising necessity, if we want to enjoy the same possibilities in the future.

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© Jan Bitter
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© Jan Bitter

Alien to this approach is the idea that precisely here the possibility of leaving out could be associated with the notion of participation and the exercising of influence, with a responsibility, in other words, that could be fun.

Tackling this antagonism openly and directly was our point of departure in planning the extension to the company headquarters of ernst basler ag.

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© Jan Bitter
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The buildings on Mühlebachstrasse in the centre of Zurich stand wall to wall. In terms of town planning, they form a chain of diverse buildings from different eras.

Through the acquisition of the concluding head building, the union of epochs is complemented in terms of utilisation as well.

On the courtyard side a structure is envisaged that will align precisely with the old building.

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© Jan Bitter
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© Jan Bitter
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Conceived of as a large window, a view will open up of the hidden inner-city garden of the adjoining plot.

The new volume will expand the existing floor area and open up the old building with an expansive gesture towards the outside. The ordering, regulating “front” will thus be counterbalanced by a new freedom in the courtyard.


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Elevation
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Cross Section BB
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Floor Plan

E2A / Piet Eckert und Wim Eckert / Architekten ETH BSA BDA SIA AG
T +41 43 4444010 F +41 43 4444015
E2A / Piet Eckert und Wim Eckert / Architekten ETH BSA BDA SIA AG
Buckhauserstrasse 34, 8048 Zürich, Switzerland