Die Webermühle, one of the multiple properties of the UBS Fund Management, wants to address the urging questions of housing in Switzerland, thinking about how we want to live in 2050. The site was bought in the 1970s by Ernst Göhner AG to build housing for 1500 people, to face the housing crisis back then. 

We are in a loop again. 

Zurich is currently facing a housing crisis, with only 0.07 percent of apartments being empty last year. The Webermühle, in the agglomeration of Zurich, it is only one of hundreds of properties build in a prefab system, owned by the UBS. Göhner back then, UBS nowadays. 

how to live 

The Göhner system was built with a clear idea of how people should live: it was designed for a middle-class family of four people. 

how to build 

Every element of the system was optimized for speed. Components were precisely dimensioned to make the construction process as efficient as possible. 

how should we continue? 

How do you build for UBS, where everything comes down to numbers? The challenge is to use those numbers productively, to generate added value for the place. Construction efficiency, seismic safety, and climate considerations become tools for design, means to achieve something more. Four new towers are added to complement and stabilize the existing structure. 

A new building system for UBS, aiming to upgrade and densify the vast stock of prefab housing in Switzerland 

...and potentially beyond?