Studio Vulkan Landschaftsarchitektur: The much-discussed town hall square at the centre of Meilen was realised in the course of an extension of the town hall and construction of an underground car park. Formerly, a large, functional yet unattractive parking lot occupied the area between the buildings accommodating the town hall, building authority and ZKB and UBS banks. Only a few benches and a fountain were located near the UBS building. Connections between the buildings involved different levels, requiring the use of stairs and ramps as well as crossing a section of the parking lot. The new design of the town square presents the large area on a single level extending to the rear of the ZKB building at street level. All the buildings now have direct access to the square. The lower schoolhouse area is joined by means of a generous stair sculpture with an integrated ramp. The broad design of the “ramp stairs” emphasises the connection between the lower macadamised “soft” grounds and the upper “hard” town hall square.

A café at the side of the stairs functions as a link between the upper and lower areas. This gives the café an optimal central location on the square with plenty of space for seating. In the west, a straight edge was created to the south of the UBS to allow for addition of further buildings in the future. The new town square offers enough space for the events of the community, such as market days or fairs. A row of trees between town hall and UBS building provides shade to rest in and leads visitors from the street to the square.

data

Location: Village centre of Meilen
Client: Municipality of Meilen
Competition: 2010, 1st prize
Project planning: Since 2011
Realisation: 2015
Area: 6,700 m2
Landscape: Studio Vulkan Landschaftsarchitektur, Zurich
Architecture: Blättler Dafflon Architekten, Horisberger Wagen Architekten
Specialised planning: Baumanagement b+p/ Ingenieur Dr. Lüchinger + Meyer Bauingenieure