Wollishofen’s productive waterfront becomes an urban factory. It is a space that serves as a playground, incubator, laboratory, and niche all at once. It is a place where the city develops through learning and experimentation. The approach is simple: create opportunities for action, enable transformation, allow for appropriation, while still establishing a clear framework. The “Urban Factory” project consists of a basic structure (“playing field”), a collection of process components, and process guidelines (“rules of the game”).

The open space is understood as a continuum – a large, interconnected space along the lakeshore as a liberation and public resource, consisting of a cohesive yet diverse and richly structured sequence of specific, well-known urban open space types. The interplay of openness and enclosure, density and spaciousness, varied visual connections inward and outward creates a unique spatial sequence.

The historical existing building ensemble shape the city factory and its open spaces. They are all repurposed and serve as relics of the industrial past, preserving and continuing their history in many small intriguing moments.

By supplementing the current pathway system with an internal park path and cross-linkages in the form of alleys, a finely-grained network is created for pedestrians. New uses and unconventional typologies are conceivable within this structuring framework. The vision of the productive “Urban Factory” focusses on traditional craftmanship, urban manufacturing, visual arts, and complementary service uses. Residential uses are not intended.
The simultaneity of historical structures, the lake, culture, production, and recreational offerings becomes the defining characteristic of the urban factory.