Competitions

Our living spaces are in a constant state of change. Competitions for architecture and landscape are one of the most important instruments for planning and driving forward structural development. The Office for Building Construction in the City of Zurich and the Building Construction Office of the Canton of Zurich alone announce around fifteen competitions each year, and dozens more are organized elsewhere - by the public sector, cooperatives, foundations and private companies. But years often pass between the announcement of the winning project and its implementation. This makes it difficult to keep track of how and where our urban landscape is developing - for architects as well as for the population.

The exhibition therefore shows a collection of first-place projects from the last two years - from the city of Zurich and the entire canton from the Rhine to Lake Zurich. The 104 competitions collected create a comparison of the most diverse buildings, approaches and uses - without claiming to be complete. The show stimulates discussion: about urban development and architectural attitudes, about questions of sustainability and further construction - but above all about competition practice, its prerequisites and its results.

The exhibition is accompanied by events and guided tours in collaboration with various actors involved in the competition system – in Zurich and throughout Switzerland: TEC21 and Espazium, Hochparterre Competitions, Stiftung Forschung Planungswettbewerb, SIA and BSA.

The exhibition will be on display at ZAZ Bellerive until December 8, 2024. It brings together all the top-ranked projects of the past two years in pictures, models and jury reports. The booklet ‹Hochparterre Competitions 4/2024› will be published as a catalogue for the exhibition and will show the plans for the projects.

Opening: 5.9.2024, 7 pm