Mixed use
Insights
With its new build, Binelli Zürich AG was looking to achieve a modern approach to commercial space, mobility and homes within an urban setting.
The Binelli Group, eastern Switzerland’s largest BMW and MINI dealership, wanted to completely upgrade its Zürich premises comprising showroom and workshop, considered outmoded in terms of both design and functionality. In parallel, a broad range of residential units was to foster a better mix in the local area and provide financial guarantees for the new build project.
It so happened that SENN, owners of the adjacent plot, shared the same objectives and a joint project was born. The design features a coherent development that follows the line of the street and gives the 8,955m² block along Badenerstrasse a clear identity. A longish building of medium height echoes and reinforces the horizontality of the streetscape, while the graduated configuration of the other buildings provides a gentle transition to the much smaller structures in neighbouring Blüemli.
Enhancing the local area
The project cleverly routes workshop traffic inside the development, removing cars from the exterior spaces and considerably enhancing its relationship to the rest of the area. The visually coherent ground-floor space houses a car showroom, a workshop and public amenities, including a MINI Café at its western end and outdoor seating on Badenerstrasse
Insights
The meeting of several planning zones (residential zone 4, above-average density residential 4 and core zone 3) demanded a sensitive design in terms of volume, configuration, identity and the surrounding environment.
The apartment block’s noisy location on Badenerstrasse presented a particular challenge if demands for as much residential space as possible were to be met. Thanks to carefully planned optimum noise-mitigating layouts, however, even the exposed lower floors are suitable for housing. The examination of various different options and consultation meetings with the relevant authorities yielded a solution acceptable to all. As a result, only the top three storeys can be termed “standard” floors, the lower stories varying in order to comply with noise-protection standards.
A wide and varied range of new homes
The upper floors offer 2.5- to 4.5-bedroomed apartments while the building on Badenerstrasse contains a range of smaller units – 1- to 3-bedroomed flats and studios – and a few offices, primarily on the first floor. The space above the workshop contains largely family homes with some maisonettes.
