A Japanese team of star architects – Riken Yamamoto + Field Shop – is the winner of the architectural competition launched by the Zurich Airport for ‘The Circle‘. The project involves an upscale complex for innovative services within walking distance of the terminals. The airport operator owns land reserves with a developable, crescent-shaped area of 37,000 m² and a utilizable area of around 200,000 m² in compliance with Zurich’s zoning requirements.

One year after the kickoff of the international architectural competition for ‘The Circle’, the winner has been announced. Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, a Japanese architectural firm, was selected by a jury from over 90 high-calibre entries from twelve countries. This announcement ends the competition. As the next step, the draft will be further refined within the scope of a preliminary study to address the specific requirements of the owner. Subject to compliance with the specifications regarding cost-effectiveness, gestalt, and functionality, construction is scheduled to begin in 2012.

Swiss Understatement

Thanks to the eloquence of its compact urban format, the winning proposal ‘Divers(C)ity’ by Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop is characterized primarily by Swiss understatement and high atmospheric quality. The concept allows tenants to present themselves with individual addresses in an expansive building complex. Additionally, the draft affords considerable flexibility with respect to configurability across the life span of the buildings.

The goal is explicitly not to build an additional shopping center, but rather to consistently establish Zurich Airport as a premium address for internationally ground-breaking service quality. Located at the intersection of international and regional transport networks, it will be a platform for discerning customers from all over the world and extraordinary service providers from interesting growth areas in an attractive atmosphere of pure “Swissness”.

The networking of the various modules and the connection to the existing airport infrastructures are consequently important. “The Circle at Zurich Airport” aims to prove that innovations in the field of so-called ‘airport cities’ are possible, as are uncompromising quality and top-level excellence outside inner cities.

Public Exhibition

The presentations of the fifteen shortlisted firms will be publicly displayed at the Zurich Airport every day from noon to 7 pm until February 26, 2010. The showing also includes the drafts of the other four finalists:

* Asymptote Architecture (USA)
* Dürig AG (Switzerland)
* Xaveer De Geyter (Belgium)
* Zaha Hadid Architects (United Kingdom)

From the winning project’s description:

«Divers(c)ity» is the name of the winning project of the three-tier architectural competition that lasted a year and attracted over 90 high-calibre entries from all over the world. The draft developed by Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, a Japanese architectural firm, is characterised primarily by Swiss understatement and high atmospheric quality derived from the eloquence of its compact urban format. It promises to become a milestone of the architectural landscape in which Zurich Airport is embedded.

Seen from the airport, «Divers(c)ity» is an impressive structure that syncopates the prominent shapes of the existing airport, and from the hillside, it resembles a metropolitan kernel that blends with the greenery. Inspired by the motto «from bustle to serenity», the protective façade allows an urban scenery to unfold in interesting spaces and areas. On the ground floor plane, an eclectic lattice of streets, plazas, and passageways meanders its way along the entire length of the complex, activating adjacent entrances, marketing platforms, gastronomic venues as well as areas intended for cultural activities and general public uses on multiple levels. A glass roof interconnects the cubatures on a mezzanine plane that serves as a further access level. The result is a multifaceted juxtaposition of individual volumes and contiguous modules that ideally merge public, semi-public, and private zones. Tenants are assigned their own descriptive addresses. At the same time, the project affords great flexibility with respect to phasing across the entire life span of the building complex.

«Divers(c)ity» provides a framework for living diversity that attracts visitors and arouses their curiosity. The distinctiveness of the architecture with its clear expression of attributes such as «swiss», «cosmopolitan», and «surprising» give the vision of «The Circle» a fit-for-the-future personality.

As the next step, the draft will be evolved to the status of a functioning, economical project within the scope of a preliminary study. Provided these specifications are met, construction will begin in 2012.