shigeru ban: tamedia office building in zurich completed

shigeru ban: tamedia office building in zurich completed
all images courtesy of tamedia AG

sporting a large scale structural system made entirely of timber, the headquarters for swiss media company tamedia is now complete. while the shigeru ban design speaks to various traditions of meticulous japanese carpentry, the impressive size of the interlocking wooden network–entirely devoid of joint hardware and glue– is rendered an honest and rather delicate lattice behind a low-e coated glass skin. retractable glazed panels allow meeting and work spaces to become open and passively ventilated.

shigeru ban’s ‘tamedia office building’ in the heart of zurich offers workplaces for some 480 employees of the swiss media hub. formally, the building speaks to the werdareal site despite the pointed synthesis of japanese craftmanship. the glazed volume is topped by a mansard roof, a truncated, sloped hip roof typology prevalent in area’s vernacular architecture and made popular by both the louvre and the french baroque. in character with the architect’s tendency toward low-impact tectonic systems, shigeru ban’s first project in switzerland supercedes the country’s strict environmental responsibility measures with heating and cooling system that uses groundwater and therefore negates the use of fossil fuels entirely. additionally, the double facade buffers climactic conditions and provides unrivaled views of the river. the carbon neutral ‘tamedia office building’ benefits from an honest structural system that hearkens to the resources of the site while maintaining an important dialogue with the qualities of the workspaces of the future.

see designboom’s previous coverage of the building construction phase here.

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image © didier boy de la tour