The GHZ commercial and industrial site is to be developed into a research campus by 2040. Together with Kuhn Landschaftsarchitekten and IBV Hüsler Verkehrsplanung, we developed the masterplan with the themes of open spaces, mobility, buildings and sustainability with the support of Planpartner and an assessment committee.

The starting point is a central string of pearls with a series of pocket parks along Wagistrasse. The current heat island is being transformed so in stages into a green campus. The principles of the sponge city and biodiversity are also pursued with free spaces towards the railway tracks and the Zürcherstrasse, which create other identities.

In terms of mobility, an inversion is taking place by transforming the Wagistrasse thoroughfare into a traffic-calmed meeting zone with one-way traffic. Car parks and deliveries will be relocated to the railway tracks. In parallel with the structural densification, the number of car parking spaces will be reduced and the number of bicycle parking spaces increased. These will be accommodated in green pavilions.

The Wagi site will be accentuated at Gasometerplatz and Wagonplatz with two high-rise buildings in relation to the railway crossings. Angle-shaped buildings create clear spatial boundaries and are organised as efficient and flexible laboratory buildings. The division into head and body gives the building mass an appropriate structure. At the joints, atriums and air spaces are created as communication zones for informal exchanges between researchers. In keeping with the existing architectures, the buildings are also intended to differ in terms of their expression, but to visualise the research spirit of the biotech campus in terms of sustainability.