ETH Zürich   Studio Adam CarusoETH Zürich  Studio Adam CarusoETH Zürich  Studio A. CarusoETHZ   Studio Caruso

Rüti’s landscape has undergone major transformations — from medieval deforestation to a shift from agriculture to cattle breeding — which have shaped its architecture and spatial organization. The decline of local industry led to job losses and a weakening of Rüti’s identity, as many residents moved to cities. This shift, combined with waves of migration, reshaped the village and eroded its communal infrastructure.

In this context, the project proposes a new system of regenerative agriculture, formulated as a utopia, with the aim of making the soil cultivable again and stimulating a new local economy. Conceived as a way to restore vital interdependencies within village life, a new chain of food processing, storage, and distribution is implemented across the village.

Along the newly drawn harvest route, two buildings emerged as key: the Gasthaus zum Adler and the Mehrzweckhalle. Their overlapping histories reflect the village’s evolution — the Adler expanded with the population and served as a cultural center until it was replaced in the 1990s by the more modern Mehrzweckhalle, which was later abandoned following the village's industrial decline.

The proposal reactivates both buildings as central stages in the new system, imagined as a theatrical piece animated by the movement of people, animals, and goods.

At the Mehrzweckhalle, unused areas are repurposed as a processing center for apples and milk — delivered at the upper level and processed on the ground floor. Interventions include a new staircase and added openings to bring more light into the spaces and to make the transformation process visible from the path.

The Adler, on the other hand, accommodates storage, food distribution, and shared meals. A new granary with a portico allows for sheltered unloading, and a series of additions follow the building’s logic of aggregated spaces: a banquet hall with a stage and bar, curtains with integrated lighting, a core for the lift and toilets, refrigerated rooms, and a shop where residents collect their share. This final, generous space opens onto two floors, creating a direct link with the village street.

The Anna Göldi Museum is located in Ennenda and is housed in the historic attic of the former Hänggiturm. It is barely recognizable from the outside and only the large letters ANNA on the chimney indicate that the museum is situated on the Trümpi site. The museum does not only tells a forgotten story of witches and women from another time, but also recalls the global influence and power of the textile industry in Switzerland.

In the first phase of the research, I looked at the content of the exhibition in the Anna Göldi Museum and took a closer look at the textile industry around Ennenda. As my grandmother was one of the workers in the Uznach spinning mill, I chose a very personal and intuitive research method. In the book Untold Stories I collected tellings of different women and recorded them as a collage in my book. The collected material is very diverse and highlights specific aspects that the women experienced and that concerned me. The aim was not to find a single truth, but to use the medium of the artist book to make them visible side by side without judging them.

On the ground floor of the museum, an additional program is to be provided that the residents of Ennenda can use and appropriate the space. As an exhibition, the women in my book have been given a space as a reminder of them and what they have experienced. Each of these spaces has a domestic character and does not correspond to the authoritarian character of a typical museum. Everyone should find their own access to the museum and new stories should be able to develop side by side in this new place.

In addition, a new park is to be created, which will become a visible center in Ennenda where people can meet or simply go for a walk. A water basin and a pavilion are located in the spacious area and give the outdoor area its character. The structures are simply designed, showcase the traditional craftsmanship of the area and provide another space for the clubs in Ennenda to appropriate and benefit from.

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The office building at Gartenhofstrasse 17 was built in 1966 by Sigmund Feigel (1921 - 2004). While the adjacent Zweierstrasse is lined by a row of office buildings constructed around the same time, Gartenhofstrasse 17 is slightly set back into the street, reaching into the realm of residential buildings and neo-classicist factory buildings.

Throughout its lifespan the building had been renovated several times. The roof and the party walls on both sides have been isolated, the canopy renewed, and in 2011 the old facade panels were exchanged. The new facade, designed by Rolf Schaffner, led to a drastic decrease in energy consumption. The different construction periods result in a „bricolage des temps“.

Currently three of the building’s six stories are empty due to the relocation of municipal police offices, making the future of Gartenhofstrasse 17 uncertain.

Only few interventions are necessary to fundamentally change the organization of the building. 

On the inside a new form of living takes place where domestic spaces and the workplace fade into each other. From the outside the additions reinterpret the appearance of the building within its urban setting. While keeping the integrity of Schaffner´s facade intact, the side facades are opened with large pivoting windows that create a vis-à-vis to the adjacent neo-classicist buildings. In the courtyard one of the three parking garages has been opened, creating an alley way between the former office building and a new atelier building. On the front side an extension of the canopy allows a glimpse into the hidden world of the backyard. 

The ways in which particular elements, spaces and structures are transformed remind us of the „rococoization“ of gothic churches.  By introducing a new grammar, given things change the way we perceive them. Despite the obvious friction between building periodes and languages there derives a new unity.

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baubuerozitrone.ch

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Referring to Lucius Burckhardts ‘Der kleinstmögliche Eingriff’ written in the 1980s, the project aims to de-objectify the Marriott Hotel that is located at the most central locations, yet remains mostly unnoticed by the cities’ inhabitants. In the sense of Burckhardts aesthetic survey, the project follows six paths that lead up to the many entrances of the building and proposed the smallest possible interventions to initiate transformation. By promoting a change in perception of the building and its relationship to the urban landscape the buildings strength of accessibility can once again be valued. It could then become a space for the public that ultimately prevents it from demolition.

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Cohabitation

City as one living organism provides habitat for human and non-human being, they influence their abiotic environment and the environment in turn as well influence the biota.

Due to the urbanisation and monoculture soil usage, city becomes a refuge for wild animal. City should co-evolve with its environment, empower the nonhuman actors and define new typology for cohabitation.

Triemlifussweg is characterized as a „Siedlung Biotop“ connected Uetliberg and Cemetery Sihlfeld.

The these is an interdisciplinary research of sysnanthrope species and aim to develop a strategy of cross-species cohabitation.

cohabitation.cargo.site

With the world climate changing, resources getting scarce and humans exploiting nature, we need to rethink farming and how to change our behavior towards nature. We're not the only ones.
By using the existing storage building as a foundation, the project becomes a self sufficient machine, powered by solar energy. With the aquaponic system it is possible to harvest more and use less.

The big heart of the machine connects the lower existing part with the upper new housings - a cohabitational space offering a habitat for plants, animals and humans. Everything is connected, everything is necessary and plays a role in the whole. 

Discover this cosmos of cohabitation and find yourself in richness and diversity. A symbiosis of plants, animals, humans, architecture and technology.

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Book Final Submission
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Booklet 1
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Booklet 2
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Glattpark
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