Bern/Ausserhollingen (CH), E5 "Expanded Urbanism"

Project – A large mix-use building is better able to cope with programmatic diversity and temporal flux. Inventiveness in terms of its surroundings makes up for the standard layout of the floor plans. A massive sound barrier, protection against the railway, occasionally intersects with the generic layout of the flats, and in so doing establishes a relationship between the building and its environmental setting. The added thickness to the building not only accommodates circulations, but also enables a variety of definitions to be established of borders between different activities.This maximised single building volume and maximised public space will assure a financially and culturally viable implementation of the project in this low-profile non-place in the city of Bern.

Implementation – At the heart of the building is the ‘House of Religions - Dialogue of Cultures’ a built reality. The house is the new home for people who have left their original home, and it makes it possible to establishing contact with people from different cultural backgrounds. Eight world religions live and pray together, while 5 of them have a private prayer area. All this is held together by a common element, the dialogue area where people of different cultures meet, discuss, and celebrate together. The Europaplatz Centre offers 88 apartments ranging from 1-room apartment to 3.5 bedroom double storied duplex as well as 2,600 sqm office areas, which can be divided into flexible office units. The result is a unity in diversity.

See the project here