Reimagining the Zett Haus
ETH Zurich
Studio Emerson
Spring 2022
With Oana Popescu
The Zett Haus (1930) in central Zurich was the first mixed-used building driven by enrvironmental principles and designed by ETH’s first female Architecture graduate. Its intent was to perform for a new public life, yet this became lost over the various alternations during its near 100-year lifetime.
This proposal reinstates its original intention by tackling the Zett Haus’ two main problems - overheating of the primary facade and the lack of visitors to its cinema and commerce. A 180 degree reconfiguration of the cinema layout turning it into a hybrid theare-cinema, alongside a secondary external screening of the south facade reimagines the relationship the Zett Haus has to its context, allowing it to embody its public identity once again.
This proposal reinstates its original intention by tackling the Zett Haus’ two main problems - overheating of the primary facade and the lack of visitors to its cinema and commerce. A 180 degree reconfiguration of the cinema layout turning it into a hybrid theare-cinema, alongside a secondary external screening of the south facade reimagines the relationship the Zett Haus has to its context, allowing it to embody its public identity once again.