Minus Letten
Zurich, Switzerland. 2018
Lucia del Pinal
Alexis Schulman
MINUS LETTEN
In a world in which reality translates into instant rewards, architecture must acquire a critical position that leads to questioning the contemporary city, its form and the excessive use of resources. Thus, architecture has to observe and reveal the genuine new spaces that are waiting to become reality, rising above market forces.
Nowadays, when you can get or live what you want when you want, the idea of living with the seasons of the year sometimes seems like an unexpected experience. Thus, this project aims to underline this temporary condition in our daily life to turn it into a possibility of experiencing the same space according to the potential offered by the climatic seasons.
The Limmat River area is divided into an artificial part, used by the electricity company, and a more natural part where the river flows freely. Taking advantage of the artificial infrastructure of the Limmat, the power company's dam, we propose Minus Letten. Just as in summer the Letten becomes a natural and refreshing swimming pool where everyone can benefit from the sun, in winter the same space is revealed as a wide frozen square in Zurich, where the possibility of sliding on the ice is just the pretext to rediscover and enjoy the urban landscape of the station.
The proposal materializes after a few simple steps - first the floodgates are closed - then the water level is lowered - and the thin layer that remains can be easily frosted to become the surface of the new public space. With connection devices and minimal interventions , the project proposes to prolong the life of what exists (Dynamo, Panama bar, changing rooms, etc), creating a new temporary reality. The project also questions the lack of open spaces in Zurich and discovers a new one, occupying the place of water, below the level of the city. This public space will only exist during the winter months, when the dam is cleaned or when the river is low, just as people will only be able to bathe when the weather conditions are favourable. The Letten, then, appears and develops, throughout the year, in many different realities.