Hardturm as Social Infrastructure

The project departs from an observation of everyday life in later age and the spatial conditions that shape it. In the film My Favourite Cake, the elderly widowed woman Mahin lives in quiet isolation, her world reduced to the boundaries of her apartment. Her few moments of interaction occur during short grocery trips or brief conversations with taxi drivers. Spontaneous personal interaction in the daily routines or small rituals such as reading the newspaper or greeting the owners of local businesses can form a social network of care which is crucial for mental health and counteract isolation in later years.

The Parkhaus Hardturm is located in Escher Wyss in Zurich, a former industrial district that has rapidly transformed into an area of large-scale developments, wide avenues, and some of the city’s highest rents. The area between Escher Wyss and Altstetten/Grünau is set to undergo further development.

The ongoing project on the Hardturm Brache claims to establish a new urban centrality through office and residential towers, a football stadium, and cooperative housing. However, this ambition relies primarily on density rather than on the creation of a distinct spatial urban identity. By preserving the Parkhaus Hardturm as an infrastructural and social node, the project connects existing and new structures while embedding historical continuity into the site, supporting a city that grows through memory rather than erasure.

On the ground floor, a diagonal axis cuts through the building, creating a direct pedestrian connection between the tram stations and improving access to the residential tower and the stadium. This crossing is marked by a vertical void that extends through the building, allowing daylight to penetrate deep into the interior and visually connecting the upper levels with the ground floor.

A market hall at ground level can expand seasonally into outdoor space, activating the building at an urban scale and connecting it to the surrounding neighborhoods.

The residents’ apartments include atelier spaces along a secondary inner street, which can be used for personal hobbies as well as small commercial activities. In this way, housing for the elderly is combined with small local businesses, allowing daily routines to unfold vertically within the building and fostering informal social networks beyond institutional care.

By encouraging residents to share their skills and passions, the project challenges the perception of older people as “unproductive members of society” and addresses loneliness in later life as a serious risk to both mental and physical well-being.

Project by: Eleni Werder

Teaching team: Teaching team: Anna Puigjaner, Dafni Retzepi, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Pol Esteve Castelló, Lisa Maillard, He Shen, He Yufei. In collaboration with BUK.

Master Thesis: Autumn 2025

Images: Luís Úrculo