Neighborhood life plays a crucial role in caring for aging citizens, offering a sense of

community and domesticity within the urban fabric. The documentary Days and Nights of

Demetra K. illustrates this through Demetra, a sex worker who runs the oldest brothel in

Athens' Kypseli district. Her interactions with local shop owners form a mutual network of

care, replacing traditional notions of home and family. In contrast, Zürich’s District 5 has seen

small businesses displaced by gentrification, weakening neighborhood ties. While

supermarkets near Hauptbahnhof offer affordability, their scale and anonymity erode

personal exchange.

This project aims to reverse this trend by reusing the old parking structure next to Zurich’s

main station to create a new typology of dwelling where flexible commercial space and

housing blend in one. This horizontal network of small businesses also includes public spaces,

shared rooms for the inhabitants, and “joker” rooms in between every flat. This typology of

shop apartments fosters affordable living and working conditions while rebuilding a network

of care and social cohesion in a neighborhood — especially important for the ageing

population.