In Japanese, the term Youkoso refers to the polite greeting of guests, the welcoming of guests. The team led by Bollhalder + Eberle and Burkard Meyer Architekten chose this thematically appropriate title for their second-ranked competition entry in the «PORTAL UZH» competition – new research and teaching building for the University of Zurich on the Irchel campus. With its portal building Y10, this key project of the campus renewal is intended to provide orientation and space for students, visitors and staff. The Y51 laboratory building and a plinth building complete the ensemble of buildings. In the opinion of the jury, the design has succeeded in making an architectural gesture of welcome: «The finely scaled portal architecture signals openness and approachability in a pleasant way.»

The main façades developed by the Lüchinger+Meyer façade planners involved are representative and harmonised with the building functions. A wooden mullion and transom façade with a very high degree of transparency clads the Y10 arrivals building. Thanks to the holistic construction with its high spatial content, the accessible deep balcony bands and the generous façade openings create a pergola-like intermediate climate. We are happy to quote the jury report: «The delicate colonnade façade of the portal, characterised by many columns, expresses human scale and modesty.»