IM VIADUKT, Viaduct in Zurich, Switzerland

November 30, 2010 Category: Bridges, Urban Design

Designed by EM2N Mathias Müller Daniel Niggli Architekten AG ETH SIA BSA, IM VIADUKT, Viaduct is located in Zurich, Switzerland. The viaduct is more than just a bridge. Like a mountain chain erected by human hand it appears in the town with a scale derived from the landscape and topography. The infrastructure element, originally used as a railway line, is to form a linear park that will be part of a culture, work and leisure mile. This reprogramming of the viaduct initiates two decisive urban impulses: a spatial barrier becomes a linking structure, and the outdoor spaces bordering it are upgraded.

The viaduct becomes a large-scale connecting machine and a linear building. We view this ambivalence as a fundamental quality and use it as the architectural leitmotiv to symbiotically connect the new uses with the viaduct structure. The characteristic Cyclopean masonry here forms the central atmospheric element.

IM VIADUKT, Viaduct design by EM2N Mathias Müller Daniel Niggli Architekten AG ETH SIA BSA