ETH Entrance and square - Zurich

Rämi-Tor, Rämi-Brücke The open space along Rämistrasse is not a traditional square (Platz), not a place to stay like the terrace on the opposite side of the building but a point of functional ac- cess and a showcase of the ETH. This urban asymmetry is a resource of the ETH complex and we will not try (once again) to turn the system into a perfectly symmetric one. We propose not to work against the logic of the existing geography of public spaces surrounding the building and propose to increase the complexity of the system by adding a new type of public space to the existing collection: the Rämi-straße is the place to enter into the building: it is a gate (Tor); it also floats on an underground parking garage: it is a bridge (Brücke). The new space consequently appears as a bridge-gate, an explicitly monumental entrance spanning a multiform logistic underworld. As a gate (Tor), the new open space introduces to the five doors (Türe) of ETH main building and highlights the volume of the rotunda with the insertion of two symmetrical cylindrical volumes at either sides of the bridge.The two vertical elements (a group of poles with flags and an in- formative panel) activate the baroque choreography of the building, engaging the semi-cylindrical volume of the rotunda in a silent rotation. The golden LED text slowly flows along the black cylinder, providing public information about the ETH activities and generating a movement echoed by the oscillations of the flags. The bridge is a succession of triangular beams form- ing a folded surface that helps spanning the 21 to 37m connecting the rotunda with the street, and determine a mildly corrugated landscape.The total height of the system is about 80cm. The difference in height among the lowest “valley bottoms” and the highest ridges of this geography is just 20 cm, contributing to the definition of an articulated, yet continuous surface. Such surface adapts to the different heights of the various urban elements at its borders and allows perfect accessibility to all areas, erasing all the current barriers to the circulation of cars, wheelchairs and vehicles.