One of the busiest roads in Switzerland runs right through the middle of Schwamendingen. Every day, more than 120,000 vehicles on the A1 highway pollute the residential neighborhood. The so-called Schwamendingen enclosure with a length of about one kilometer will finally bring peace and cleaner air to the neighborhood. The surrounding building cooperatives and private property owners are seizing the opportunity and renewing their stock.

The enclosure encloses the highway with a tunnel on this section and connects directly to the existing Schöneichtunnel towards the city center. On the roof of the enclosure, the Ueberlandpark will be created as a continuous green open space for the neighborhood population. This is being designed by Krebs und Herde GmbH, while the Federal Roads Office has commissioned us to plan the areas at city level after completion of the detailed project. This involves the paths on both sides of the enclosure and many smaller and larger connecting areas, which we are transforming into new open spaces. Extensive preliminary work was carried out according to our plans, which formed the basis for the construction of the enclosure itself.

In a few years, when the construction machines have withdrawn, new pedestrian and bicycle paths will connect the dissected parts of the neighborhood with each other, with the park and in the direction of the city center. A section of the Schörli-Saatlen green corridor, which was created around 1950 and is of historical garden interest, will be restored. The selection of tree species is made especially with regard to climate change and biodiversity. There is a fruitful exchange about this with specialists from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW. The half-open cover of the Schöneicht tunnel near the forest garden will be closed. A small park will be created on top of it. A non-place is transformed into a green meeting place for the neighborhood