MARKTHALLE SCHLACHTHOF ZÜRICH
A CITY THAT FACES ITS MEAT PRODUCTION

In the autumn of 2022 the city of Zürich decided that the slaughter house operation has to leave its current production site in Altstetten. This project disagrees with the city’s decision. The proposed project questions the development of our meat production during the 19th&20th century and believes that for the 21st century we need to come up with a redefinition of our meat production and consumption. The key strategy point is to open up the fenced-off- concrete-box-typology of the contemporary slaughter house by introducing a market setting where the costumer, the butcher and the farmer can meet and interact closely the animal becomes more than a product that is just processed and consumed. With that in mind the urban location of the slaughter house becomes an opportunity to raise awareness in Zürich’s population about its meat production. Therefore the project proposes a masterplan in which the slaughterhouse should maintain its urban position while the city’s wishes for the transformation of the site are fulfilled.

The proposed project largely restores the original functionality of the slaughterhouse by stripping the extension of 1985 down to its structure. The lower floor is transformed into a large cooling hall that allows longer storage of the meat while the upper floor is converted into a covered public space that houses a market hall and a space dedicated to educational purposes. The original slaughter halls are extended towards the market hall and the stables which create new spaces that define the moment of the animals death. Large windows with a low parapet invite the urban resident to witness and understand the procedure freely. The markethall resembles the original connection hall in shape and volume to from its counter part. One represents death and the other life. In that sense the proposed extension is made of materials that live, breath and erode such as timber and earth.