in collaboration with:
Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation, Prof. Dr. Silke Langenberg, Reto Wasser
Chair of History and Theory of Architecture, Prof. Dr. Maarten Delbeke, Linda Stagni

A Heritage Protection Site Past, Present, Future

In Zürich, right next to the Letzigrund Stadium, you can find the historical slaughterhouse Schlachthof Zürich. Notable through its impressive brick construction from the early 20th century, today it is protected by the state of Zürich. Through this, these historic parts are currently mostly empty. This emptiness will only intensify in 7 years’ time, as it will spread to the newer buildings from the 70s. At that time, the cities contracts with the current renters will run out, vacating the site, and opening the opportunity for development.

In the assumption that there will be a transitional period between the vacating of the areal and its future development, the questions are: What opportunities are offered by the heritage protection clauses? Where are the clashing points of something newer but existing and something historic?

Based on this I have looked at the areas, where the new and the historic clash and heritage protection wants the new removed. I do just that, I remove things, though not completely. As my plans are for the transitional period before development, an in-between if you will, that is also what I do with the removal of elements, removing only some. An in-between of the now and the past which is to be reconstructed.

Over the decades since the construction of the Schlachthof, many new buildings have been added to the original ones. The most prominent one is the new slaughter hall, a big grey box essentially. But there have also been other changes, not so obvious on first glance.

As these newer buildings completely change the way the old ones can be experienced, especially in situations such as closed of in-between spaces, it is no wonder that heritage protection calls for their removal.

I agree that the outside space in-between is crucial and needs to be restored, reducing overall building depth and reintroducing additional facades that allow natural light to reach the surrounding buildings. It allows for the original buildings to be experienced, adds fresh air and ventilation and a way to access the rooms that lay off it.

Once the outside space has been restored and with it the facades of the old slaughter halls have been revealed. All the windows of the old buildings had before been bricked shut as a consequence to no longer leading to the outside.

Heritage Protection wants the brick to be removed and the windows restored. But the complete removal of the bricks might not be necessary or ideal.

Light requirements depend on the user, and here we have the ideal situation of being able to adjust just that based on the requirements, by removing only as much of the brick as necessary.

Within the old slaughter halls, where once there were big open halls, big spaces, and high ceilings, it is now obstructed by additional walls being built and ceilings covered.

So, by making the columns a focal point removing parts of the walls, the hall space is reimagined, keeping the existing smaller room structure in part, while also bringing back some of the openness of the original empty hall.