Oberzelg Estate, Winterthur-Sennhof

Administratively Sennhof belongs to the City of Winterthur, but geographically the suburb is clearly separated from the municipal area and forms a village-like enclave in the Töss Valley. The river not only moulds the topography, it also aligns the elements of the settlement along its course: buildings, streets, railway line, forest boundaries. The same applies to the architectural volumes and the open spaces in the new Oberzelg development, situated constricted between the A-road and the railway line.

For Esch Sintzel the project in Sennhof is amongst the few they have undertaken that do not involve densification, but rather open planning for a green-field site. Instead of accentuating the identity of the locality, the aim here was to develop a new – suburban – status. This is why the project is conceived on the basis of public areas, and this is why these public areas are very explicitly arranged as exterior urban spaces, interacting as a series of squares and alleyways. The squares are framed by airy loggias and raised private gardens, and are ideally suited either to be adopted for individual use or to create a convivial framework for community living.

The reference to traditional settlements extends to the construction, which is executed in single-layer masonry with scraped rendering.