To our great jubilation, plans for a new Police-and-Justice-Center in Zurich came to a screeching halt last autumn, when its budget was nixed by parliament. Months earlier, FAS had given Theo Hotz' competition-winning project for the (glorified jailhouse) "Police Center" our heavily sarcastic WTF (What The Fuck) Award. The Guterbahnhof rail depot in Kreis 4 would be a fantastic location for just about anything except a penal institution. The 75,000 m2 site is perhaps the last large chunk of land in the rapidly developing district of town.
It is therefore no suprise that upon cancellation of the project, a flood of speculation and intrigue came. Vast swaths of developers, collaboratives, and politicians now feast their eyes on the Guterbahnhof, with dreams of claiming the site for more yuppy offices, low-cost housing, parkland, or even a museum.
FAS (Fundamentally Ambiguous Strategies) came to the conclusion that Zurich already has everything that you can name under the sun. Except, of course, undefined space. Especially in an age where real-estate tycoons are quick to market every square meter of space in the city for a target use, it is hard to find anything that grows organically. But rather than let a system of committees decide its fate, we imagine that, if left to its own devices, the Guterbahnhof will eventually rise to become a haven of culture, the last vestige of creativity in a city of dwindling prospects; its eclectic mixture of tenants and its vast and atypical spaces provide the generative matrix for a cross-pollination of ideas.
CALL FOR LOVERS
The Guterbahnhof, a protected site, was only threatened by a mandate stating the construction of the Police-Center and necessary. (A citadel? Necessary?) So while the rail depot is temporarily safe, its days are still limited: it is only a matter of time before luxury apartments are deemed as necessary for the welfare of the city. Therefore, FAS (Feeble Attempts at Salvation) is launching another call for ideas, to ensure the protection of the Guterbahnhof by turning it into an Icon of Zurich. But we don't just need architects: the Guterbahnhof's future needs no plans or planners, it needs lovers.
We are asking for your vision of a future for the GBH. How can the life of Zurich inhabit the Guterbahnhof?
Responses can take the form of a postcard from the future, a love-letter, poem, sketch or painting, and can be as abstract or as realistic as you like. The introduction of new programs/functions is allowed, but not necessary, to depict a future for the Guterbahnhof.
Select entries will be displayed in the city as part of a campaign to save the soul of the city. Send your dreams to:
FAS
8000
Zurich
or faszine@gmail.com
Deadline: May 1, 2011
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