Luca Can

The Offene Rennbahn Oerlikon, built in 1912, is the last open-air cycling track in Switzerland and an iconic urban figure in the Oerlikon landscape. However, its limited use and accessibility (open to the public on 22 Tuesdays per year only) also reduces it to a somewhat deprecated and out-of-place remnant in a rapidly densifying area. Departing from an in-depth investigation into the different actors, uses and spatial realities (both historic and contemporary) that make up the ecology of the Offene Rennbahn, this master thesis proposes to list the cycling track. Not to further ‘freeze’ it in time and space, but to ensure its continued existence and to reactivate it as a social space. The decision to list the track is compensated with the construction of new housing blocks and a high-rise tower built on the outskirts of the site. As such, this master thesis asserts that in certain cases densification and conservation are only a false opposition, and can actually go hand in hand.