Skip to content

Audio Version

See more about

More info

Architects: ARGE suetil – weberbrunner architekten ag and SOPPELSA ARCHITEKTEN

Location: Winterthur, Switzerland

Year: 2018

Photography: Beat Bühler

“sue&til” – New City of Wood: A Hybrid Cluster

weberbrunner in collaboration with soppelsa architekten won the commissioned study “Housing development with commercial areas in Neuhegi, Winterthur” in November 2013. According to the tender, around 300 residential units, ground floor public-oriented commercial space, and an underground car park with around 200 parking spaces were to be built on two plots.

The meandering perimeter block figure creates an urban pocket park on Sulzer-Allee, defines an inner courtyard divided into three areas, and forms the final key element in the “hybrid cluster” masterplanning scheme.

Through the pronounced terracing of the two upper penthouse floors, the building is classically divided into three sections: the extra-high ground floor as plinth; two to three full stories of apartments with loggias; and the shifting terrace apartments on the fourth and fifth floors. As a result, the building volume is particularly structured and the façades are brought to life. The loggias were reinterpreted; by adding windows, the loggia becomes an extension of the living area with year-round usability. An intermediate climate is created within the insulated perimeter, allowing the loggia to be used as an exterior space in summer and as a sunroom in winter.

The basement, ground floor, and staircases are constructed in cast-in-place concrete. The remaining floors and exterior walls are built in wood. The façades use story-high windows of varying widths to subtly animate the building. By slanting the window reveals to the outside, the rooms behind are especially well lit. The floor-to-ceiling proportions resemble French balconies and allow the residents to step directly up to the façade.

180 different apartments – 80% rented, 20% owner-occupied – and a mix of typologies lend the former industrial site in Winterthur-Neuhegi a new residential character. “sue&till” is currently the largest timber construction in Central Europe.

Architects: ARGE suetil – weberbrunner architekten ag and SOPPELSA ARCHITEKTEN

Location: Winterthur, Switzerland

Year: 2018

Photography: Beat Bühler

urbanNext (March 29, 2024) “sue&til” – New City of Wood: A Hybrid Cluster. Retrieved from https://urbannext.net/suetil/.
“sue&til” – New City of Wood: A Hybrid Cluster.” urbanNext – March 29, 2024, https://urbannext.net/suetil/
urbanNext December 3, 2020 “sue&til” – New City of Wood: A Hybrid Cluster., viewed March 29, 2024,<https://urbannext.net/suetil/>
urbanNext – “sue&til” – New City of Wood: A Hybrid Cluster. [Internet]. [Accessed March 29, 2024]. Available from: https://urbannext.net/suetil/
“sue&til” – New City of Wood: A Hybrid Cluster.” urbanNext – Accessed March 29, 2024. https://urbannext.net/suetil/
“sue&til” – New City of Wood: A Hybrid Cluster.” urbanNext [Online]. Available: https://urbannext.net/suetil/. [Accessed: March 29, 2024]

urbanNext | expanding architecture to rethink cities and territories

Newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter

Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in excerpt
Formats
Audio&visual
Concept
Data
Essay
Forum
Lecture
Podcast
Project
Talk
Survey
Statement
Selfthink
High Density
Middle Density
Low Density
No Density

talk

essay

project

product

survey

data

all formats