Situated at the foot of the Pfannenstiel, with sweeping views of the Zurich Oberland and the Alps, the municipality of Egg benefits from an exceptionally favourable location. The immediate proximity to Lake Greifensee, the Pfannenstil and the city of Zurich makes the location particularly attractive for young families and people who want to combine natural qualities with urban proximity. The competition site is centrally located in the immediate vicinity of the town centre. It is embedded in a heterogeneous context: rural building structures, small family houses with front gardens and narrow paths meet detached, suburban apartment blocks with green spaces. This diversity forms the specific character of the townscape – a mixture of specific locations and diffuse transitions, of dense areas and open spaces. Against this backdrop, the central question arises: how can a contemporary housing development be created that blends harmoniously into this fragmented environment and at the same time provides forward-looking answers to the challenges of durability, social mix and quality of life?

The project proposes a development consisting of two multi-angled structures that are slightly descending to follow the topography. The urban planning response to the heterogeneous surroundings of private gardens, interspaces and green areas is not achieved through hard bounderies, but through a setting that accentuates transitions and creates spaces. Together with the open spaces on the neighboring parcels belonging to the municipality of Egg and the reformed community church, an ensemble is created that does justice to its prominent location and restores a high degree of spatial quality and greenery to the municipality of Egg. The result is a village, not an agglomeration.

The geometry of the buildings makes it possible to create differentiated open spaces with varying degrees of publicity and privacy. Generous green spaces are created between the volumes, enabling both communal uses and places of retreat. The staggering and angularity of the buildings create a variety of niches and spatial situations without the volumes ever appearing as a whole – the structure ensures a sense of scale and integration into the surroundings.

Differentiated planting and elongated seating steps embedded in the topography create a finely graduated zoning of the open spaces. They subtly clarify the transitions between the open commons, the semi-public areas located centrally and the front zones in front of the flats. These can be appropriated, but not completely privatised. The result is an open space structure that opens up a variety of uses for the residents – without having to be explicitly allocated or spatially demarcated. The open space remains communal and open – but at the same time clearly structured and atmospherically legible. There are no outdoor spaces without use and identity.