Over Christmas our studio will be closed as follows:
Monday 24th December - Friday 4th January 2013. The entire team will be back in the Studio on 7th of January 2013.
We wish you a happy Christmas and a good new year!

Ganz Landscape Architects is pleased to be named by Hochparterre magazine in ‘'The Best of 2012' in the category ‘Landscape' for the restoration of Tiefenbrunnen Park and Bad in Zurich-Riesbach.

Ganz Landscape Architects, on the team of phalt Architekten AG and b+p Baurealisation AG, has won the design competition for the renovation of the grounds of the open-air swimming pool and the new construction of the skating rink in Wohlen.
All of the competition entries with plans for renovating the sculptural architecture of the swimming pool grounds, which were designed by Dolf Schnebli and built in 1966-1971, and the plans for the new skating rink are on exhibit in the foyer of Wohlen Town Hall from 13 December 2012 to 18 January 2013.

The design competition for the extension of the group home `Breite` for the handicapped at Reinach/AG has been won by Niedermann Sigg Schwendener Architekten AG with Ganz Landscape Architects.
Opening:
Wednesday, November 21 st, 2012, 5 p.m.
Stiftung Lebenshilfe (Heuwiese)
Saalbaustrasse 9
5734 Reinach/AG
Show: November 21st to December 4th, 2012, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In the past few days of magnificent late fall weather, a planting suggestion by Ganz Landscape Architects closed another gap in the botanical variety represented on the school grounds of the HSR Hochschule für Technik in Rapperswil.
A new bed of different grasses, with flowering plants scattered throughout, now leads the way to the university. The pine trees and `Elaeagnus` shrubs characteristic of the locale were added to, forming a woody frame; they also strengthen the identity of the new planting. In view of landscape architecture studies at the university, which is unique in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, the design intervention with this new planting is a welcome addition.

"Appenzeller Gärten", a special exhibition by Roman Häne, has moved to the HSR Hochschule für Technik in Rapperswil. The exhibition, which was at Museum Herisau last year, provides a look at traditional and contemporary garden culture in the two Appenzells. The exhibition opens 4 October 2012 at 5:15 p.m. in the lobby of Building 1 at the HSR and will be on view up through 24 October 2012

Uniform hard surfacing surrounds the buildings of the business high school/specialized upper secondary school on the Theiler-Areal in Zug. The low-key design of asphalt paving connects the new and the old buildings in a spatial ensemble. The multifunctional surfacing between the closely built buildings creates alleyways and courtyard-like spaces.
As the heart of the newly added exterior spaces, a central square is formed. The square serves as arrival area and schoolyard. The ground-floor uses of the bordering buildings put life into the square. In summertime, outdoor seating will be added in a part of the square and used by the cafeteria. A fountain marks the centre of the square.

Construction work for the new construction project of the city housing estate on Rautistrasse in Zürich-Altstetten will start on 24th September 2012 with the laying of the foundation stone, now that the demolition work has been almost completed.
We are now more clearly defining the planning of the grounds; currently, we are checking the gently descending topographical landscaping design using a model and paying particular attention to the seven building entrances.

In a magnificent setting on high ground in Appenzell we are creating a garden with traditional, regional garden elements. A precisely positioned cut into the terrain on the north side next to the house creates a small patio towards the west side.
Piero Maspoli, artist and friend of the studio, is currently laying the Rorschach sandstone pavers for the patio.

The design competition for a new funeral/memorial hall at Erli Cemetery in Steinhausen, Zug, has been won by the team of Atelier Christian Scheidegger + Jürg Keller with Ganz Landscape Architects after the revision stage.
Plantings of grasses and perennials frame the slightly sunken courtyard, which has large pavers and retaining walls that, like the plinth of the funeral/memorial hall, are made of sand-blasted concrete. The materials chosen for courtyard, plinth, and roof form a unified whole.

We are going on a 5-day excursion to discover England in the summertime. Ganz Landscape Architects will be closed from 12-16 July 2012. We will be back, filled with new impressions, on Tuesday, 17 July 2012.

For the town square in Zumikon the design entry by Ganz Landscape Architects, artist Piero Maspoli and Amstein + Walthert Engineering was awarded third prize.
The design defines the town square as only the level area framed orthogonally by the surrounding buildings. A different surfacing sets the square apart from the rest of the stone-paved pedestrian areas. This open area becomes the centre.
A walkable tree island will be installed in the square. The shallow-rooted trees, forming considerable volume, are placed in bowl - like a bouquet of flowers - in front of the town hall. The trunks of the Southern Catalpas (Catalpa bignonioides) grow from a mound of earth that is carpeted by lawn. In spring the mound is adorned with fields of white narcissus.
An exhibition of all competition entries is being held up to 6 July 2012 in the foyer of the community hall.

With the renovation of the old chemistry buildings at ETH in Zurich - by Ruggero Tropeano Architects - there is also a new lounge in the foyer of the library. In accordance with a request by students, the foyer includes unusual plantings. Ganz Landscape Architects are designing five different glass planting cases reminiscent of the "Wardian case". The glass cases will be placed across from the library showcases and will contain lush plantings of ferns, providing a reference to "Pterodomania", the craze for ferns in the Victorian era.

This exhibition of students' planning projects marks the conclusion of Daniel Ganz's visiting professorship at the EPFL Department of Architecture. Photographs, "stocktakings", models, and plans, complemented by finds collected by the students on walks through the Lac de Sauvabelin area, will be on exhibition at the EPFL Foyer SG from 17 April to 5 May 2012. An exhibition publication entitled, 'Reading Nature', will be available.

This exhibition of students' planning projects marks the conclusion of Daniel Ganz's visiting professorship at the EPFL Department of Architecture. Photographs, "stocktakings", models, and plans, complemented by finds collected by the students on walks through the Lac de Sauvabelin area, will be on exhibition at the EPFL Foyer SG from 17 April to 5 May 2012. An exhibition publication entitled, 'Reading Nature', will be available.
Reading Nature. Lac de Sauvabelin, Lausanne
Opening reception 17 April 2012, 6:00 p.m.
EPFL Foyer SG

It's here! The high-tech wooden sculpture by Zurich artist Marco Ganz entitled SNAPORAZ has arrived at the ABZ housing estate on Jasminweg in Oerlikon.
The sculpture was produced in the Black Forest, and after an exciting transport to Zurich it was anchored on the largest of the three precisely modelled grassy mounds of the newly designed surroundings. SNAPORAZ is made of cross-laminated layers of spruce wood and winds upward to its full height of 8.5 meters! Its imposing size is additionally reinforced by its placement on the 2-meter high grassy mound.
The technically demanding construction of the sculpture was documented on film by film maker Anne Cuneo.

Gravels offer a wide and varied range of possible uses as design elements in outdoor spaces. Our collection, put together by Laura Schwerzmann during her internship at Ganz Landscape Architects, makes it easier for us to find crushed gravels from the different regions of Switzerland and to better understand their application possibilities.

Final decisions are nearing in the project competition for the GreenCity cooperative (non-profit) housing construction sites in the Sihl-Manegg Areal in the south of Zurich.
On the team with Hauenstein La Roche Schedler hls Architects, our competition entry for the long and narrow Building Site A was awarded first prize and, along with a second architecture firm, recommended for further development.

The topography of the surrounds of the Rautistrasse housing estate is gentling sloping. Throughout the grounds there are winding pathways of three- and five-cornered pavers and steps. Here the classic formula for stairs no longer holds. The gradient varies with the form of the pavers. Some steps function as platforms and others as simple stair treads. To test whether the stairs are comfortable and safe to climb, we constructed 1:1 scale models and tested various combinations of rise and run. It is amazing that the stairs resembling mountain paths are extremely comfortable to climb.