The Pfingstweid has not been a cow pasture for a long time. But its name comes from the fact that cattle used to be brought there to graze at Whitsun. The area, which was used as allotments until the park was built, is still original.
Bird's eye view of the Pfingstweidpark. Photo: SchnitzelCopter
Waste wood for wild bees. Photo: GrünStadtZürich
The show stairs of the Pfingstweidpark. Photo: GrünStadtZürich
Retaining wall made of recycled concrete. Photo: GrünStadtZürich
Water basin in Pfingstweidpark. Photo: GrünStadtZürich
Site plan of the Pfingstweidpark. Plan: Antón & Ghiggi
It is the last spot in Zurich-West that lies on the lower level of the Hardallmend. All around it, the terrain in what is now Zurich-West, formerly one of the city’s most important industrial locations alongside Oerlikon, has been filled in to accommodate industry and commerce. City West borders to the east, the track field to the south, a school is to be built to the north and the track arch runs past to the west: a 1.4-kilometer pathway through the district for pedestrians and cyclists between Hardturmstrasse and Hardbrücke station. Pfingstweidpark, which opened on September 5, completes the final section of the Gleisbogen project.
In 2010, antón & ghiggi landschaft architektur, together with Baumann Roserens Architekten and ethnologist Flavia Caviezel, all from Zurich, won the project and ideas competition. The starting point for the design of the 1.2 hectare park was to improve the provision of open space in Zurich-West. To date, this has mainly been provided by four parks: Turbinenplatz, Josefwiese, Wipkingerpark and Hardhof.
The winning team used the difference in level as the Sunken Garden and the formerly predominant vegetation of a sparse oak forest as a theme. The jury praised the “playful handling of the boundary, which is formulated in mineral terms throughout, but appears in very different ways, be it as a wall, gravel and clay terrace or as a school building.”
Project data Pfingsweidpark Zurich-West
Client: City of Zurich, GrünStadtZürich
Landscape architects: Antón & Ghiggi Landscape Architecture, Zurich
Project and ideas competition 2010, 1st prize
Park area: 1.4 hectares
Construction time: 2014 to 2015
More in Garten + Landschaft 10/2015 – Open space by the water. To the magazine preview