The site that was once home to industrial firm Geistlich in Schlieren, is now a new neighbourhood with residential and commercial buildings.

At Brandstrasse 1–7, architectural office Graber Pulver Architekten designed an open city block with senior housing and a care facility as well as cluster apartments and live-in studio space; all elements open up to the newly created Rietpark. The materials chosen are in line with the regional tradition for industrial structures: walls made of solid clinker bricks and ornamental clinker flooring.

The signage echoes the reference to craftsmanship: in the rue intérieure, cast copper numbers designate the entryways to the four residential silos and, in the stairwells, to the individual storeys. The lettering on the doors expands on the colour palette of the ornamental clinker flooring at the access points. The flexible sign system on the ground floor provides information for commercial renters.

• Address:

  Brandstrasse 1–7, Schlieren

• New build:

  2020

• Architecture:

  Graber Pulver Architekten, Bern/Zurich

• Commissioned by:

  Geistlich Immobilia AG, Schlieren

• Project team:

  Flavio Berther, Natalie Bringolf, Kristin Irion, Laura Moor, Carla Petraschke, Yoëlle Reinle, Yvonne Schneider

• Photography:

  Luis Hartl, Buchs; Bivgrafik