Kindergartenhaus Wiedikon

This article is part of the Hidden Architecture Series “Tentative d’Épuisement” , where we explore the practice of an architectural criticism without rhetoric and based mainly on the physical experience of the work itself. Este artículo forma parte de la serie “Tentativa de Agotamiento” , comisariada por Hidden Architecture, donde exploramos la práctica de una crítica arquitectónica ausente de retórica y fundamentada sobre todo en la experiencia física de la propia obra. A brief, intense and unpredictable early autumn downpour has left the city covered in a sheet of water that now reflects the rays of a sun that timidly peeks through dark, dense clouds. Some leaves on the trees had begun to turn yellow at their tips, anticipating their fall after an unusually mild September. Knocked down by the wind and the downpour, many lie on the pavement, weaving a wet and slippery carpet. At this time of the morning, the Wiedikon neighbourhood stretches lazily with the calm of someone who expects nothing. Located outside the historic centre of Zurich, this popular urban district stretches between the Sihl river and the wooded mass that rises towards Uetliberg, the domestic mountain peak that governs the Swiss city. The urban fabric corresponds to what we understand as a typical 19th-century urban expansion, where rectangular city blocks, filled with different buildings around interior courtyards, are structured around a Cartesian road network punctuated by small parks or public squares. Descending from Lochergut along Sihlfeldstrasse, a small triangular square invites you to pause for a moment to enjoy the dense trees, from whose canopy the rainwater that had been held back in the heights now pours down furiously. Vibrant with people and noise yesterday at dusk, this secluded urban space reflects the social spectrum of this area of the city: alternative young people, migrants from various backgrounds and a strong presence of Orthodox Jewish families.