bosshard presented his “City in the Lake” to the public in 1961. A gigantic terrace of 700,000 square meters, enthroned 14 meters above the water level, was to serve as a pedestrian city, including traffic arteries and over 70,000 parking spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The three zones were clearly designed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
A green strip up to 100 meters wide around the new city was to transform the lake basin into a park and river landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Infrastructure from a single source Criticism and opposition Bosshard’s vision was criticized as a show of strength, even as “utopian folly”. Ecological aspects or the legal basis for such an embankment were largely ignored in the project dossier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n A time of bold urban ideas In retrospect, ETH urban researcher Christian Schmid speaks of an “act of desperation”. The narrowness of Zurich’s city center left little room for expansion. The idea of moving out to sea or over railroad land was spectacular, but neither practical nor financially viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Housing construction remains an ongoing problem The “City im See” may have failed as an urban planning utopia, but it remains a symbol of an era in which Zurich designed high-flying ideas to solve its structural problems. Then as now, the city searched for space that did not exist and found answers in the boldest visions.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 60 years ago, Zurich architect Andr\u00e9 E. Bosshard presented a radical vision for Zurich. A new business city, built in the middle of Lake Zurich. The “City im See” project was intended to solve both the housing and traffic crisis. It has remained part of an era of bold but barely realizable urban utopias and current debates about the scarcity of urban space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","_surecart_dashboard_logo_width":"180px","_surecart_dashboard_show_logo":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_orders":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_invoices":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_subscriptions":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_downloads":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_billing":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_account":true,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12485,39679,22433,12493],"tags":[54504,12525,12526,12528,54505,19265],"class_list":["post-139767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-projects-en","category-standorte-en","category-trends-en","category-region-zurich-en","tag-architekturvision-en","tag-immoinvest-en","tag-immonews-en","tag-news-en","tag-stadtutopie-en","tag-zuerichsee-en","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":{"bild_mit_ki_erstellt_worden":[],"lead":"More than 60 years ago, Zurich architect Andr\u00e9 E. Bosshard presented a radical vision for Zurich. A new business city, built in the middle of Lake Zurich. The \"City im See\" project was intended to solve both the housing and traffic crisis. It has remained part of an era of bold but barely realizable urban utopias and current debates about the scarcity of urban space.","autor":"Quelle TagesAnzeiger","ort":"","bildunterschrift":"","zusammenfassung":"","bild_im_grid":false,"gallerie":"","newsim":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
<\/strong>Bosshard’s plan envisaged a rigid separation of pedestrians and traffic. Cars, streetcars and a possible underground train were to run beneath the artificial plateau. Escalators would have guided commuters from the substructure into the high-rise city. Bosshard pointed to the public purse, the inexpensive use of cantonal waters and the use of prefabricated construction elements to finance the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>The reactions were fierce. In the NZZ, an architect voiced his “energetic objection” and spoke of a “frostily monumental” foreign city that would take away Zurich’s lake and thus its essence. The press felt compelled to emphasize that the publication of the project was not an endorsement, but was intended to provide information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Bosshard’s plan fits in with the 1960s and 1970s, when Zurich experimented with several radical projects. in 1971, for example, Guhl, Lechner and Philipp designed the “Wohncity” above the tracks between the main railway station and Altstetten, another plan that failed due to its cost and complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Today, the debate about covering railroad tracks is being revisited. This time, the main focus is on the lack of affordable housing. Schmid remains skeptical that such projects would also incur enormous costs and ultimately result in luxury apartments. Urban expansions such as those proposed years ago by the Krokodil architects’ group for D\u00fcbendorf are more realistic. Large areas, well developed and with potential for affordable housing developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n