Competition success: HIC, ETH Zurich Hönggerberg

A meeting centre is being added to ETH Zurich’s renowned research campus at Hönggerberg. The new HIC building will provide space for student organisations, various user groups and entrepreneurial initiatives and thus promote collaboration. As part of the general planning team of Buchner Bründler Architekten / Rapp Architekten, we were able to win the competition.

The tender called for a lively place of exchange for the ETH site on the outskirts of Zurich.The winning project by Buchner Bründler and Fontana translates the idea of openness and transparency of use at all levels – from the architecture to the open space so important for encounters – into low-threshold accessibility for students and visitors.

The plaza at ground level adopts the honeycomb principle of the adjacent building’s open space and complements it to create an open system of meeting zones in the shade of pine trees and green islands, which ultimately dissolves into the surrounding green spaces.On the roof, an ecologically equally valuable mesh of shaded lounge areas and flowering gardens is to be created.