Advanced Studio: Furttalweg: Designing Furtbach's Riverway

Abstract

The Advanced Landscape Architecture Studio of Prof. Christophe Girot will design a linear public space along the Furtbach. The designed landscape will improve the quality of life for the inhabitants of the Furttal by enhancing connectivity between urban areas and providing access to recreational spaces.

Objective

We will work in the Furttal valley situated between Lägern and Altberg in the north-west of the city of Zürich. The plain of the valley was once largely covered by wetlands, a result of the glaciers which formerly covered the Furttal. In the past 15 years, these wetlands have been drained and turned into cultivable land. Today, the region is also very urbanized, though not in the sense of a continuous urbanity but in the form of patches of settlements on both sides of the valley. Consequently, it is difficult to find natural connections along the valley. This situation raises a number of interesting questions: how continuous are those fragmented places? How accessible is the Furtbach? Can we imagine a promenade or a network of pathways along the shore? Can we establish connectivity between the urbanized areas through landscape design? ​​The FS 2022 Design Studio will focus on large-scale design through digital point cloud modeling. In several workshops, students will acquire skills in point cloud and computer modeling, visualisation techniques and CNC prototyping. The studio includes several workshops and field trips to the site.

Content

The studio is structured into three phases and includes multiple site visits. PHASE 1: SITE VISIT, URBAN DESIGN AND HYPOTHESIS PHASE 2: DESIGN DEVELOPMENT THROUGH MODELING AND ITERATION PHASE 3: PROJECT SYNTHESIS AND VISUALIZATION

Resources