The two large cooperative buildings located in the Gutstrasse in Zurich and designed by Peter Märkli are the result of a two-stage competition. In 2007, eight architectural offices were invited for the study commission. The intention was to replace existing apartment buildings from the postwar era with quality buildings within a reasonable price-performance ratio. Three teams were selected for the second stage and commissioned with further development of their proposals. In the end Peter Märkli best fulfilled the wishes of the cooperative with his proposal called "Les Hiboux". In the eyes of the client, he two compact building volumes promised low operational costs, what finally also became true.

The cooperative "Im Gut", founded in 1946, has several apartment buildings along the Gutstrasse in Zurich. These are arrayed in parallel or are arranged in an open square layout, and can be regarded as typical examples of the "Garden City Typology" which is characteristic for this neighborhood. However, the past years showed, that the corresponding greeneries were used only sporadically by the residents. Additionally the floorplans of the apartments no more time met the current needs, having in mind that they were built according to a social housing standard. Since a conversion of the tight apartments would have had only little improvement, the cooperative decided in favor of a replacement in stages. The new buildings should contain contemporary family-flats destined for younger tenants. The new building ensemble contains the same number of flats as the predecessor, but with significantly more floor space. This higher utilization of the parcel was made possible by the building act, which favors densification of the city of Zurich. When the old housing estate was built, the location was on the outskirts of the city. In the meantime, the city of Zurich has grown considerably, and the area is located attractively within the city. With the public transports the city center is reached quickly and easily. Furthermore the residents have access to the recreation area Uetliberg within a few minutes, and the surrounding area is quite well equipped with infrastructure such as shops, school, kindergarten and church.

The two buildings were arranged parallel to the Gutstrasse, with their generous dimensions, featuring a length of 128 m and a height of 24 m, the volumes represent a metropolitan gesture. With the newly created front of the long volumes, the road with their old trees is converted into a boulevard. The greenery on the side facing away from road, located between the new apartment buildings and the schoolhous "Im Gut" and the Thomas church are redefined through the design by Peter Märkli. The meadow is bordered more strongly and thus gains the impression of a park, the two short facades of the buildings appear as munumental entrance to the greenery. The original design also a featured a communal garden room, which would have allowed direct access to the park. However, this garden room was not built for economic reasons.

The large building volumes are structured by projections and recesses and the subtle colors give the ensemble a refined elegance. Recesses and projections of the loggias and interiors create a slightly vertical layout which enlivens the white plastered facade. The concrete parapets have the appearance of abstracted balustrades. On the exterior the building eremembers the  apartment building in Sargans by Peter Märkli from 1986. While in Sargans a whole long side is designed as continuous Loggia structurerd by pillars, in contrast the apartment building "Im Gut" exposes an alternation between open and closed areas in the facade. For beeing a north side, the street facade has a relatively high proportion of windows, preventing the appearance of a backside. In the sections where pedestrians and residents come into contact with the walls, these were constructed as double walls an which is applied a rough gravel plaster. The other wall areas feature a finer plastering, with a vertical direction of application visible. The window soffits are differentiated of the bright facade by brown-greenish vertical markings. Terracotta colored awnings and pergolas painted red bring a splash of color into the subtle color canon.

The differentiated volumetrics are also justified by the building act, as on the margins were allowed only three instead of seven storeys. The ensemble of the two cooperative apartment buildings "Im Gut" can be interpreted as a complex amalgam. Peter Märkli combined the linearity of the row construction, the dimension of the post-war modernism and the present time as well as contemporary floorplans and durable materials, creating an all new unit. The long building volumes are preceded by annex constructions, containing the communal laundry and the storerooms for bicycles. The buildings shows a favorable interpretation of the ground floors, considered to be a recurring difficulty in designing apartment buildings. The aforementioned annex buildings contain communal usages, while on the south side, towards the park, the consecutive layout of private gardens, semi-public pergola and public greenery results in an interesting spatial sequence. The annex buildings create small forecourts and enter into dialogue with the old trees of the avenue, creating a spatial filter towards the relatively busy Gutstrasse. The entrances are shielded from the street by hedges, trees, low walls, grass verges and a pathway. The elevators and the staircases are oriented to the street and receive natural light. In the entrance areas pedestals and columns were clad with limestone. This stone is also used as flooring in the living rooms of the flats. The apartments are accessed through small access balconies. In most flats the living rooms and some of the bedrooms are oriented to the southwest. Towards the north, the kitchen and other bedrooms are aligned. Because all rooms directly connect to the living rooms, circulation areas are reduced to a minimum. Within the apartments, floor to ceiling doors make the rooms appear bigger.

The two volumes were built in two stages, the 83 apartments in the first stage (Gutstrasse 113-127) were handed over to the tenants in the spring 2012, the 62 apartments of the second stage (Gutstrasse 85-95) followed in January 2014.