Arquitectura e interiorismo: Simon Zemp

tópos
The site for the House of Music lies on the fringe of the Kreis 4 in Zurich. After a dense urban fabric of courtyard buildings containing smallbrick workshops, the city is suddenly severed in two by the train tracksof the Seebahn at the level of the site. This infrastructure scar leavesmany of the surrounding buildings incomplete with bare firewalls staringinto an urban void. Only the exceptional buildings of HermannHerter around the rails and the train station have enough presenceto address and sculpt the open space. The specific spatial configurationaround the train tracks has given a melancholic atmosphere tothe surroundings. The bars and design shops along the Zweierstrasseand the Ankerstrasse give way to more detached buildings, whichseem devoid of human activity. This ambiance can be grasped in paintings like the periferia by Mario Sironi.

The existing surroundings of theplot are so dissonant that extending the Kreis 4 by simply completingone of the courtyard buildings would seem an inadequate and feeblegesture. The clear setting of the new building does not try to imitate orhide a given situation but is placed and articulated to answer all sides.A high and wide show façade addresses the empty space createdby the rail tracks. In comparison to Herter‘s head-end building, thewindow grid is horizontally shifted, giving a lateralness to the building.
The narrow façade overlooks the Kreis 4 and its entrance is markedby an extrusion in the lower part of the volume. Together with theneighbouring buildings, the narrow façade creates a gate situation thatserves as a border between two spatial worlds.

téchne
The building is made of brick walls and wooden floors. Both materialsgenerate their features and qualities through their technical assemblage.A brick could merely be seen as a piece of mud but whenassembled right, this element can create a wall with the capacity togenerate numerous atmospheres and textures.

The conceptual clarity of the construction is achieved by a brick bondof face brick and insulated brick. This building system generates one massive wall of continuous brick without expansion joints. The bond changes slightly from floor to floor: the wall thicknessdecreases in steps to create supports for the wooden floors. These consist of Lignatur elements that span the whole tenmeters width. The width of the building can always be felt throughinterior spaces that reach from one façade to the other.

On the ground level, the entrance leads to a reception area and a restaurant,which connects the front façade to the back garden. The first floor offers views towards Kreis 4 from the bar as well as the pleasant sight of the old trees along the rail tracks from the concert hall.The higherlevels are meant for the quotidian life of the in-house musicians. Theyare organized as an open space that serves as office and leisure space.The practice rooms are physically detached boxes constructed in heavy limestone brick. Atmosphere derives from a combination of materiality andlight. The façade brick has jura yellow and rust colours on the exteriorand a limestone colour in the first floor’s interior. The music boxes onthe upper floors are painted white but still reveal the brick pattern.The windows express the varying thickness of the wall. Deep windowson the ground level indicate the entrances and represent the ideaof a plinth. On the upper floors the windows are flush to the outsideface brick and promote the thin textile qualities of brickwork. Inthe interior, the same windows offer pleasant niches to sit in an observethe city. The roof terrace only opens to the sky. The closed wall reinforcesthe solidity of the building towards the outsidewhilst offeringa calm retreat from thebustlingcity on the inside.