Angelo Domeisen & Jannik Lagerein

Wide corridors, carefully decorated walls and a wide variety of materials and colors are the first things you notice in the ETF building. Here you realize how many eras and actors this place has seen. Now the institution is asking itself what the future of the building will look like. Will the building have to be demolished? Part of it, perhaps? What happens if the building is left standing? 

Our work is concerned with finding a solution in the ETF building that respects the qualities of the existing building, builds on them and also creates new ones. The most important issues for us are the corridor, the offices, new learning spaces, the entrance and accessibility: 

We want to move the corridor, which is too wide, to create space for more offices. This will also change the ratio of circulation space to office space. As office space appears very unified, we want to change this. Through unbuilding, we want to create new office typologies that offer a very diversified range of work and can meet a wide variety of demands and conditions. 

By transforming the auditorium, we are fulfilling ETH‘s wish to create a flat auditorium. This intervention also creates space for new learning space. How does the auditorium come about - is it possible for everyone? We have answered these questions by creating new entrances and paths, which now allow access for everyone and give the building a secure future, perhaps even with a broader visitor base.