Gigon Guyer - Switzerland
Housing Development Färberei Areal
Farbstrasse / Seidenstrasse, Thalwil
1998 - 2012

Four new buildings were planned by Gigon Guyer on the former dyeing complex. They were realized in different in stages, which finally create an ensemble, together with the restored and redeveloped "Blue Factory", a former textile dyeing. So the original industrial site was gradually developed into an urban neighborhood with residential, commercial and office uses. The stretched, long cubic structures are arranged fan-shaped into the hillside and create flowing spaces, expanding to create squares. For all construction stages the color of the buildings has been developed in collaboration with the artist Harald F. Müller.
The long, five-story building 1, which runs parallel to the edge of the steep lakeside slope, contains 35 apartments. The flats are of different sizes from 3.5 to 7.5 rooms. On the two floors adjacent to the Blue Factory, flexibly divisible office space were developed as well as a nursery located downstairs. A crucial characterstic of the apartment blocks is the arrangement of the rooms around a central living and dining area, which is connected to the kitchen. Loggias with two glazed sides penetrate into the volume and face towards the south and offer view of the lake. The layout of the flats is enhanced by floor-to-ceiling windows, providing lot of south lide for the living rooms and view to the Lake of Zurich an the opposite coast on the northern side. The exterior spaces of the penthouse apartments are designed as large patios, which are not open to the outside, but open the sky. Due to the slope, the typology changes in the two lower floors and features maisonettes. The day area with living, dining and kitchen is organized on the top floor over the entire depth of the building. The sleeping area with the sea-side rooms is located at ground level on the lower level. The external appearance of the building is dominated by the grid of the bearing monolithic concrete structure. The concrete surfaces of the façade are painted with a white glaze, while all the components in the facade openings have a metallic character: the colorless anodized aluminum windows, the venetian blinds and the railings of the glass balustrades, which are slightly reflective. In the access areas the elevater cores are coated with a high-gloss silver paint. The surrounding walls of exposed concrete are sometimes treated with a matt yellow-green, sometimes with a transparent glaze.