A new collective potential - The perimenter block development
In today's urbanized landscape, the distinction between nature and city is no longer possible. With increasing density, what will be the role of gardens in it?
In contemporary cities the meaning of gardens has gradually faded, and today seems to be only that of marking the limits of extreme privatization.Often these outdoor spaces are reduced to gated edges, devoid of any quality and therefore unusable.
However, the garden is one of the oldest forms of domestication, a composition between built and green elements and fundamentally linked to architecture. As such it has the potential to build the missing link between inside and outside, the private and the public spheres and to create interactions with the possibility of establishing new collective values.
This investigation explores one case of Zurich's most critical urban forms in this regard: the perimetrical block developments. It’s about respecting the substance and reading the existing conditions as potential. The opportunity is taken to think of the central building of the block as a garden and within it: a new collective potential, marked by the continuous change of use over time and a mutual exchange with the exterior.
