In my Backyard

In My Backyard

Year
Site
Author
People
Award

2022 –
Dübendorf, Switzerland
Radiant
Andreas Galliker
Förderpreis THEO - ETH Zurich

www.inmybackyard.house

The densification of Swiss agglomerations is advancing and formerly small villages are growing into cities. Dübendorf is part of the agglomeration of Zurich and is considered to be the fastest changing municipality in Switzerland. While high-rise buildings emerge on its borders, the settlement areas in the center however, are still characterized by relics of small parcellation with free-standing single- and multi-family houses.

Due to the shortage of settlement area and the pressure for densification, these small parcels of land with single-family houses are increasingly coming under preassure. New buildings remove the old building fabric and its resources whereby the existing social community and the identity of the place are lost.

Dübendorf in the agglomeration of Zurich

An examination of the parcels in Dübendorf and their utilisation ratio showed that the greatest potential for densification lies within the older properties.

Unused building land in Dübendorf

In an attempt of land reorganisation, the plots are reduced in size so that each existing building corresponds to the maximum utilisation ratio of the plot. What remains are fragments of unused building land.

Potential for densification

The reorganisation of the building land ensures the preservation of the existing building fabric and allows new typologies to be developed for the spaces in between. New addresses are introduced and allow the existing social fabric to coexist.

Conventional densification vs. In my Backyard