Winkelbau Zwhatt Areal

In Regensdorf in the canton of Zurich, the new ‘Zwhatt’ urban quarter is being built directly at the Regensdorf-Watt railway station on the former ‘Gretag site’. Over the next ten years, the site is to be gradually transformed into a lively mixed-use quarter.

Zirkular supported the architecture office baubüro in situ in converting the third floor of a former commercial building to residential units for students. The project was realized under the motto ‘Existing buildings as an opportunity – circularity as a goal’ with maximum preservation of the existing structure and reuse of building materials. In order to keep the amount of new materials as minimal as possible, Zirkular sourced and procured reuse components: 21 modular steel kitchens from a retirement home near Chur, several high-quality fire doors, fibre cement panels and all sanitary appliances. This minimised the construction emissions for the three-year test phase of residential use and made a further contribution to circular construction. The aim is to extend this strategy to the other floors that will be converted in the coming years.