Security, Peace and Orientation – Adliswil Asylum Center Opened
On Saturday, the new Sihlau asylum transit center in Adliswil was ceremoniously opened by the Canton of Zurich. The future-oriented replacement building offers shelter to 140 temporarily admitted persons and persons in the open asylum procedure in regular operation. It is a place of arrival and shelter: the refugees are given security, peace and orientation here before being assigned to a Zurich municipality.
The planning and realization of the asylum center, on the other hand, was completely restless – a high-speed project. The competition success of Azzola Durisch Architekten in 2021 was followed by rapid project planning, and construction could begin as early as August 2022. Now, just under seven months after the foundation stone was laid, the building has already been inaugurated. “We are very pleased to be able to hand over this exemplary sustainable and user-friendly building after the shortest possible planning and construction period,” commented Cantonal Master Builder Beat Pahud on the rapid implementation. The direct proximity of the architects and the involved structural engineers from Lüchinger+Meyer at Limmatstrasse 275 certainly benefited the project planning zeal.
A modular building formed the basic idea of the architectural design and the basis for the rapid realization. 60 fully installed wooden modules were prefabricated in the factory ready for occupancy. The walkways in front are made of concrete elements, the supporting structure of glulam. The foundation principle with foundation bars along the load lines takes account of the settlement-sensitive subsoil and promoted the rolling execution of the preparatory work.
The planners implemented the basic design concept of the “Karvansara” competition project with purposeful consistency. The works of art by Jeanno Gaussi skilfully support the symbolic reference to the oriental hostel as atmospheric details. On Saturday, not only government councilor Mario Fehr, city mayor Farid Zeroual and the project participants were able to convince themselves of this, but also those Adliswil residents who had accepted the invitation to visit the new center.
(Photos: Hochbauamt Kanton Zürich)
