With the addition of new samples from the Atacama Desert and from the volcanic island of Stromboli, we have expanded our collection of soils.  

A few days ago, architect Guillaume Othenin-Girard brought us reddish-brown Atacama Desert sand from the foot of the Cerro Tocco volcano near the ALMA Observatory in the border region between Bolivia and Chile. The Atacama, a coastal desert, is the driest desert on earth outside the polar regions. Because of the extremely dry desert climate, the mountains in the desert have become the site of choice for many large astronomical observatories. There are weather stations in the Atacama that have not reported any precipitation for many years. A remarkable feature of the landscape of the Atacama are the numerous salt flats, such as Salar de Atacama.

With nearly continuous eruptions, regular gas explosions with ejections of lava clots and ash are typical for the Stromboli volcano on the island of Stromboli. This type of volcanic activity also at other volcanos is referred to as a Strombolian eruption; Stromboli itself is unique for being in regular, continuous eruption. The soil on the island is mostly black and sandy due to this volcanic activity.

In Bülach, swirling autumn mists surround the secondary schoolhouse designed by Brockmann Stierlin Architekten of Zurich. We have been involved in our project for the new school grounds for six years, from the open design competition to realization. Our new landscape design is now taking shape. The species-rich plantings of trees and shrubs tree as well as the bulb plantings will unfold their full effect next spring.

The jury is in for the Initial Design Proposal competition for Nadelband in the commune of Dietikon in the Limmat Valley. We are very pleased that our project in the team of Adrian Streich Architekten has won the competition.

In response to the heterogeneous character of the location, we take up and continue the variety and propose an adaptable design that starts out from heterogeneity as a quality. In a gravelled area, we lay out usable spaces, which—similar to carpets within a parlour—create distinct areas. These rectangular outdoor carpets can be added following the building development and can then be used for play according to the users’ ideas. The result is an evolving, robust spatial framework in which a wide variety of uses and ideas can become established. Nevertheless, a design intention remains legible thanks to the clear geometry and the resulting emerging negative spaces.

At the school start of school year 2018/19, 2 kindergarten classes, 14 primary school classes, 3 secondary classes, child care centre and student lunch moved into the new building for the Krämeracker Primary School designed by Boltshauser Architekten in Uster. The students immediately took over our new school grounds. This project makes us extremely happy!

We are off to Belgrade, drawn by the delightful topographical setting between the Sava and Danube rivers, New Belgrade and the socialist architecture with its green spaces and the botanical garden, the natural reserve protected area on the Donau, the church designed by architect Jože Plecnik, the weekly market, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and—last but not least—good food. From 4–7 October 2018 Ganz Landschaftsarchitekten will tour the city referred to as the Gateway to the Balkans and the Door to Central Europe.   

At Geisenheim University‘s Symposium on the use of plants in the cities, Daniel Ganz will speak on our brise soleil project on the Sky Frame industrial building in Frauenfeld and on sustainable greening of buildings.

26th–27th September 2018
16. Symposium zur Pflanzenverwendung in der Stadt

Hochschule Geisenheim University
Von-Lade-Strasse 1
65336 Geisenheim
Germany

The design proposal by the team of Atelier Strut (Winterthur) and Ganz Landscape Architects was chosen for the new bus depot and travel terminal as well as a residential building in Frauenfeld.  For Twerenbold Reisen AG, a family company with a company history of over 120 years, the new bus depot and travel terminal will be a flagship in Northwestern Switzerland. Our planting design provides a reminiscence of various travel destinations in Europe.

Ganz Landscape Architects will have summer holidays from 30st July to 17th August 2018. During this time we will be working with a reduced staff. The entire team will be back at work for you on 20th August 2018.

Originally an industrial and commercial area, the Industriestrasse area in Lucerne in the southern Tribschen-Langensand neighbourhood at the foot of the Geissenstein has had the character of temporary use since the late 1970s. The inexpensive living and work spaces are currently being used by tradesmen/small businesses, artists and cultural professionals, flat sharers, and cultural facilities.

Our design proposal for the prized, selective, two-phase project competition invited by the "Genossenschaftsverband Kooperation Industriestrasse" (a federation of cooperatives) was awarded second prize. On the team of Edelaar Mosayebi Inderbitzin Architects, we designed grounds that strongly referenced the locale. Through open design approaches, uses of the area would permit a whole collection of wants and needs and not hinder them through constraining features. The surfacing, developed based on the site, planted with columnar poplar trees, complements the stock of trees and forms the basis for the exterior space with its collection character—exterior space that that allows for people and nature simultaneously and thus becomes a piece of urban nature.

The replacement construction for the existing residential buildings on Hofackerstrasse in Zürich-Hirslanden will be the work of EMI Architekten. Ganz Landscape Architects is responsible for the landscaping design. Our entry named ‘Solaster' was named the winner in the initial design proposal procedure. As a new element, low garden walls will border cushion-like planting areas, which will be planted with hydrangeas and perennials. Where needed, this will create distance from the ground floor of the buildings.  At the same time, these plant cushions reference the lush garden surrounding the buildings. The variety in the garden only becomes apparent from the stepping stones that lead you through the vegetation surrounding the buildings. Between shrubs that bloom and grow in decorative forms, you dance on the stepping stones through the garden and are enveloped by a colourful carpet of vegetation. Along the stepping stone paths, there are several very small courtyards like islands where you can sit; here you can linger under the large leaves of the catalpa trees, which have an exotic look, and listen to the chirping of birds. The area in the middle with a courtyard tree functions as a meeting place or as an area for playing or splashing in the fountain, while the surrounding garden is a place of contemplative calmness.

We are very pleased that our design proposal on the team Scheidegger Keller Architects for the Sennhauserweg new construction and the restoration of Carmenstrasse 10 was selected by the Stadtverband der Reformierten Kirche Zürich [city association of the Reformed Church Zurich] for further development and execution.  

The existing parsonage garden is in tune with the spirit of the neighbourhood and forms a strong unity of design with the building. A garden path accompanying the frontage leads around the parsonage. At different path corners, a garden space will be added with one solitary tree towering over it. Around the path and the garden spaces, thick edge plantings create the intimacy needed in the garden. The built elements of the garden area are very atmospheric and require only gentle repair. The new construction sits like a neighbouring building in the middle of the garden area and is accessed on the side by a small forecourt. The tree and edge plantings form a filter between the existing buildings and the new building. The greenery flowing through the space will be retained, and the green street scene with lush perimeter plantings of strong, decorative shrubs along the boundaries will be reinforced. The edge planting helps to safeguard the private sphere between the flats and the parsonage. All of the flats have views into the depths of the garden space, so that density and distance alternate in the perception of the residents.

You are cordially invited to an exhibition of all entries to the selective project competition.

5–14 June 2018, weekdays 2:00–5:30 p.m.

Foyer Kirchgemeindezentrum Hottingen
Asylstrasse 36
8032 Zurich

This building on Rindermarkt in the historic centre of the city of Zurich was first mentioned in the year 1357. It was purchased by the city of Zurich in 1954 and is listed in the inventory of art and cultural history objects worthy of protection of communal significance (Inventar der kunst- und kulturhistorischen Schutzobjekte von kommunaler Bedeutung). Taking into consideration that the building is of historical interest, it was repaired moderately by Felder Architektur, Zurich. Between the ‘Haus zum Seckel’ and a courtyard building belonging to it, there is a small, private open space. Ganz Landscape Architects has now completed renovation of this garden and its new plantings.  

On Signaustrasse 6 in Zürich-Riesbach, not far from Kreuzplatz, the Signau House and Garden are opening in June. The stately villa, built in 1911 by architects Pfleghard and Häfeli, has been renovated by Edelaar Mosayebi Inderbitzin Architects. And now, after our redesign measures, the house and garden are once more interconnected. The newly interpreted design for the garden, which had been turned into a functional parking area in the 1980s, is based on the original plans. The original plans go back to garden architect Gustav Ammann and his creative period when he was head garden architect at landscape gardeners Otto Froebels Erben.

The result is a guest house for food and drink, for get-togethers and for living, and for cinema enthusiasts and garden aficionados which can be visited.

26 May 2018, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Signau House and Garden
Signaustrasse 6
8008 Zurich

Gareth Doherty assistant professor for landscape architecture at `Harvard University Graduate School of Design` and author of the publication `Roberto Burle Marx Lectures. Landscape as Art and Urbanism` will speak about the Brasilian landscape architect, plant collector, and artist Roberto Burle Marx.

Guest Lecture introduced by Philip Ursprung, dean of the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich: `Figures on the Ground`

Tuesday 15 May 2018
18:00 – 19:30
HIL E3
ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg

For the structural addition of further buildings to the existing high-rise buildings designed by Werner Stücheli, in the team with Adrian Streich Architekten we have now drawn up the structure project for the Schindler grounds in Schieren. In addition to the public access area, for the landscaping design the structure plan defines the neighbourhood squares and the front gardens, the inner garden space, and the play areas. The fixing of the plans should happen within the year.  

Felder Architektur in Zurich invites you to have a look!
For the overall renovation of the house in Niederdorf in the Altstadt (the historic city) of Zurich, Ganz Landscape Architects completed the courtyard garden project in close collaboration with the company Gasser Gartenkulturen in Männedorf.

Saturday, 5 May 2018
11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Rindermarkt 11, 8001 Zurich

In the gardens at the old Trotte Nursing Home in Zürich-Wipkingen, the exotically shaped foliage of a plant may brush against us and awake in us a forgotten mood of days gone by. We have now developed the detailed planting plan for the senior citizens’ home project. For the extensive park landscape, the aim is to merge two strong moods/atmospheric pictures: cultivated gardens planted with cottage garden perennials surrounding the Alte Trotte, and a variety of plants reminiscent of the Mediterranean on the assisted living/nursing home side. The central herbaceous border with three parts acts as an intermediary between the two worlds. It stands at the centre of the design and brings the two different plantings together. A framing ring of native-species trees and shrubs, with richly blooming ornamentals, complements the plantings around the edges of the property.

In our use of colours on the playground of the new school grounds of Krämeracker School, we utilize a playful technique of distortion of a shape or image that can be recognized only when viewed from a particular angle (anamorphosis). From the perspective of a primary school student—at an eye level of exactly 1.20m—a coherent linear shape will be visible that will emphasise the playful aspect. Following an idea by the executing playground construction company, motorsänger GmbH, Männedorf, this will also be realised in the coloured painting if temperature and the moisture content of the wood allow.   

The filigree and colourful lines in e.g. pure orange, heather violet, or flame red fall into fragments when child viewers change their position and conjure up a playful lightness on the wooden playground climbers.

Despite the icy winter temperatures, the gardeners are making progress at the Bünzmatt Sports Park in Wohlen. They have installed the lanes of the mini-golf course and prepared the surface areas for the new beach volleyball courts and beach soccer fields. Next, the historically listed and protected areas surrounding the swimming pool will be renovated. For this, a part of the existing flooring (concrete slabs and cobbling) can be reused. Where necessary, additional slabs will follow the historical model of the original public swimming pool designed by Dolf Schnebli.

The new Uri Cantonal Hospital in Altdorf is to have a basin and plant troughs for the area around the main entrance. First, we modelled our form studies for the new design elements three-dimensionally in CAD and then converted these in a suitable format for 3D printing of models. The 3D printing used the melt layer technique to print our desired object forms in PLA plastic in a 1:25 scale. Due to the projecting forms, the supporting structures had to be removed afterwards. 

We continuously feed books and other text materials into our library. We catalogue and digitalise meticulously, so that everyone at the studio has direct access to the materials. Our carefully compiled collection contains nearly 1,300 holdings focusing on architecture, botany, history, gardening, garden and landscape architecture and art.

An inspiring environment is important to us. We surround ourselves with books, images, graphics, models and text fragments. We cultivate dialogue with one another.

To join our team in project planning and realisation on 1 June or an agreed-upon date, we are currently looking for a

landscape architect (man/woman), 100%.

You will have demonstrated your abilities in projects during your prior experience of 2-3 years. You have very good design and conceptual skills and show great commitment. You will complement our experienced team with your visual knowledge and computer software skills (Vectorworks). You are characterised by great interest and enjoyment in your work.  You have a good command of spoken and written German.

We are a cooperative team and offer you the opportunity to use your creative ability in all stages of the work. Our spacious studio premises surrounded by trees are located at the base of the Uetliberg in Zürich-Binz.

We would be pleased to receive your written application with the usual documents and stating your earliest possible starting date (by post and/or e-mail).

For more information, contact:
Ms. Sylvia Rembold
Tel. +41 44 380 62 78
rembold@ganz-la.ch

Our collections are steadily expanding. The diversity of the collections draws on irrepressible thirst for knowledge, the desire to grasp and understand connections. Quite naturally, then, cabinet of curiosities and natural history collection merge into one. Handcrafted objects and delicate specimens exhibited systematically draw our attention on a daily basis.

Charles and Ray Eames are counted among the most important designers of the 20th century. With their furniture, films, books, exhibitions and media installations, they have influenced generations of designers and continue to shape our everyday culture. No other name in design so clearly represents technical perfection and a timeless aesthetic, and none is more closely associated with the exuberant start-up culture on the American west coast during the post-war era, in which the Eameses played a prominent role. The Vitra Design Museum will present »An Eames Celebration« – four parallel exhibitions that offer an unprecedented view of the work created by the legendary designer couple.

Exhibition runs to 25 February 2018

Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Strasse 2
D-79576 Weil am Rhein

Daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.