MFO Park Zurich. © Michael Freisager
BURCKHARDT – ARCHITECTURE AND INNOVATION Driven by a passion for architecture and new ideas, Burckhardt is known for thinking out of the box and realizing outstanding projects. The unique structure of the enterprise allows not only designing but also managing, selling and restoring buildings through subsidiaries, thus applying a broad knowledge of the entire real estate value chain. The shares of Burckhardt are held exclusively by active employees - most probably a one-off business concept in the world of architecture, ensuring a high identification with the company. Founded in Basel in 1951 by Martin Heinrich Burckhardt, the company grew quickly alongside the pharmaceutical industry of the region. Faced with new challenges of designing, say, state-of-the-art laboratories from the start, Burckhardt has always worked in close collaboration with the clients and their individual needs, resulting in innovative, complex and unique projects until today: 74
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Issue 123
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November 2024
Visible from afar, the elegant driveways at Zurich Airport have given Switzerland's largest airport a new visual identity. The elegantly curved canopy with a length of 350 meters not only connects Terminals 1 and 2, but also combines good design with structural precision: With a train station situated directly under the driveways as well as a height difference of 3 meters between the two terminals, the distribution of the loads of the canopy had to be balanced most precisely. Zurich Airport driveways. © Beat Bühler
Different in nature yet equally innovative, the award-winning MFO-Park in Zurich presents the unique concept of a vertical park in the middle of the city. Together with Raderschall landscape architecture, Burckhardt developed an outstanding idea which promptly won the office the commission and has since proved a highly valuable addition to Zurich’s cityscape. A lushly overgrown steel structure invites visitors to relax and discuss, watch movies or attend concerts 24/7 at any time of year, and its design reflects the original dimensions of the Oerlikon machine factory that used to be located here. With eight offices across Switzerland and Germany, the Burckhardt group continues to seek innovative challenges. For example, the fast-growing Berlin branch is currently developing a new building for the ‘Federal Office for Materials Research and Testing’ by using the highly collaborative and integrative project execution method IPD, for which architects, building services planners, shell builders and the client work together from the outset in a so-called ‘co-location’. www.burckhardt.swiss
TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI
Swiss architectural office Burckhardt combines the reliability, expertise and experience of a long-established enterprise with the power of innovation.