Zurich: Appeals against project on Maag site

Resistance has formed against the Swiss Prime Site project on the Maag site. "The Zurich Heritage Society, under the leadership of the City of Zurich Heritage Society, will lodge an appeal against the building permit from the City of Zurich alongside other interested parties," wrote the Heritage Society in a press release a few days ago. The Hamasil Foundation made its appeal public shortly afterwards.

The criticism is that the city only wants to preserve the old hardening shop building from 1941/42 (Zahnradstrasse 22), which is listed in the municipal inventory, and the listed workshop and forwarding building from 1939 (Zahnradstrasse 21/23) from the Maag site in Zurich West. The two large event halls at Zahnradstrasse 24 from 1968/69 and the office tower from 1970/71 are to be demolished according to the building decision. The Swiss Heritage Society has the site, which is also included in the Federal Inventory of Swiss Sites of National Importance, on its red list of endangered properties. "However, the city of Zurich did not consider it necessary to secure the preservation of the Maag Halls by means of special building regulations and to promote a further construction project that preserves the existing buildings," write the Zurich heritage conservationists. The ensemble of three halls on the Maag site are the last witnesses to the important era of industrialization in the city of Zurich and are therefore significant in terms of architectural history. Together with the other buildings on the site, they form a coherent ensemble.

"The appeals have a suspensive effect," writes the Hamasil Foundation in a press release. "This moratorium gives the city of Zurich the opportunity to tackle the overdue revision of the special building regulations and thus clear the way for an alternative project." The foundation initiated the Kulturpark on Pfingstweidstrasse and is based there. As a direct neighbor, it is entitled to make a statement. It is in favor of the realization of another design that emerged from the architectural competition, the one by Lacaton & Vassal, which envisages the preservation of the historic building fabric.

Swiss Prime Site's "Maaglive" project is based on the designs of the Berlin firm Sauerbruch Hutton. The investment volume was estimated at CHF 135 million last year. It was already considered not unlikely that there would be appeals against the project when the plans were presented (IB reported).