Commercial Building Binzstrasse 29, Zurich, Switzerland

Commercial Building Binzstrasse 29

The commercial and office building with seven stories has a sloping tree mantle facing south, a terraced building volume, also facing Binzstraße in the north with a slight gradation of the facade level.
The multi-tenant building has a wide variety of large and small rental spaces, with different room heights and individually usable green terraces as outdoor spaces, which also connect the floors with each other. The ground floor is intended to be used for gastronomy, in order to create a memorable public space in close interaction with the entrance hall and to enrich the surrounding neighborhood.

The task was to develop a future-oriented, largely decarbonized "low-tech" building with high flexibility and robust function. Thus all office areas are ventilated purely naturally via the façade. Only internal meeting rooms can be flexibly connected to a central mechanical ventilation system. The commercial areas on the lower floors are also ventilated centrally and mechanically via the ceiling in order to comply with the requirements of the guideline on occupational safety. To reduce the grey energy, the building is provided with concrete cassette ceilings of minimal thickness. These are thermally activated for cooling purposes.

The energy concept does without fossil fuels and is based on a reversibly connected heat pump system in combination with geothermal probes. The energy law of the city of Zurich also requires a 200 m² PV system, which "extrapolates" the sloping south façade beyond the roof.

Dynamic thermal simulations and daylight simulations were used as analyses accompanying the planning. The proof of summer thermal insulation in accordance with SIA 180 was also carried out with the help of simulation in order to realistically represent the shading effect and wind stability of the planned folding arm awnings.