The Wettstein Park project centres on the issues of rediscovering, extension and integration. It looks for an urban strategy and architectural language that is both complementary to the old buildings but appear contemporary. Six houses on the site will be preserved, with their story dated back to the 1615. Today they house an elementary school and the foundation of an important Swiss sculptor Alexander Zschokke.
The intention is to unify the whole site as a public green park which can be fully open to the public and integrated into its urban context. The canal that runs through the site, which was buried in the 20th, will be reopened as a threshold between the city and the park.
Three new interventions will be added: an atelier with gallery, a primary school building and a performance hall, trying to reorganize the fragmented urban space and to bring all these historical layers together. The new atelier building stands along the canal, reunites the old buildings, creating an open park as laboratory of creativities and public education. The Open-air new school stands along the street, facing the park. A big roof collects solar energy and gives protection for outdoor learning. The performance hall creates a chain, with the old, that encloses a pond in the centre. The hall can be flexibly divided into two parts and is completely open to the park.
