1st Prize Sportshall Seefeld

We are excited to share that we received the first prize in the open competition for adding two sportshalls, childcare facilities, a cafeteria and an assembly hall to a historic school building in Zurich Seefeld.

Except technical spaces, the entire program is organized above ground, minimizing underground volume and carbon emissions.

Looking forward to realizing this project together with landscape architects August + Margrith Künzel for the client from the City of Zurich.

Press Release
Juryreport

Open House Zurich

The Guggach school is opening its doors for the Open House Event in Zurich on 27 September 2025 between 1pm and 5:30pm. Christian Weyell, Momoko Yasaka and Kai Zipse will offer guided tours of the school building every hour. We look forward to your visit!

Binningen Mock-Up

At the schoolcampus Binningen, the facade mock-up was installed on site. We are testing constructive details and materials in 1:1 scale, for the execution of the timber construction.

SAY Swiss Architecture Yearbook 25/26

The Primary School Guggach was selected as one of 30 projects for the Swiss Architecture Yearbook SAY 2025/26. We are excited to be included!

Join us for the opening of the accompanying exhibition in the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel on September 26th.

SAY
S AM

'Bad Language' at AA

We are excited that our projects are featured in the exhibition “Bad Language” (26.09.-06.12.) which showcases the work of the photographer Max Creasy at the Architectural Association in London.

On September 26th, we will talk together with the curator Guillermo Fernández-Abascal, Max Creasy, and the other participating offices Kastler Skjeseth, Takeshi Hayatsu, OMMX, Sauter von Moos, and Lütjens Padmanabhan, about the projects, methods, and inspirations behind the images.

Bad Language

Discussing ‘Bad Language’

EPFL Department Lecture

We are delighted to be invited to the lecture series of the Faculty of Architecture at EPFL in Lausanne this semester. On Tuesday 18th November, we will talk about the Primary School Guggach and the topic of “Community”.

“Community is an ambivalent concept. It involves both gathering through shared customs and exclusion. Some claim that inclusive communities do not exist. Recent history shows people more often unite through exclusion than inclusion. However, communities are not sealed. Philosopher Roberto Esposito explains that community ‘is not a property or territory to defend but a void, a debt, and a gift to others, reminding us of our otherness.”

Espenhof construction site

The construction site of the Elderly Housing Espenhof West is progressing. We are happy to present new photos by Sven Högger, that document the building process.

Archithese Swiss Performance 2025

The Primary School Guggach is part of the 25th-anniversary edition of Archithese Swiss Performance issue, which publishes a selection of projects in Switzerland or by Swiss architects abroad each year. We are very excited to be included!

Lunch Date with dorsa + 820 (20.03.)

Lunch Date #2

The second Lunch Date is with dorsa + 820 on Thursday, March 20th, at 12:30 PM.

Pan and Lewis from dorsa + 820 will present their ongoing school project ‚Sandy‘ in Visp, as well as their approach to operate as an architectural collective of two distinct yet interwoven entities.

There is no need to register. RSVP to lunchdate@weyellzipse.ch to help us estimate the amount of visitors.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

werk, bauen + wohnen

The issue 3-2025 of the magazine werk, bauen + wohnen titled “care”, features an article about the Primary School Guggach by Weyell Zipse and the Hofwiesenstrasse residential ensemble by Donet Schäfer Reimer.

Lunch Date with Lukas Raeber (20.02.)

Lunch Date: Sharing is Learning

We are launching a new format of lunch lectures in our office. By sharing knowledge with colleagues, we want to learn collectively from past experiences and future projects. Everybody is welcome to join. Feel free to stop by – to listen and discuss, chat and laugh, learn and share. We will provide small bites to eat.

The first Lunch Date is with Lukas Raeber on Thursday, February 20th, at 12:30 PM.

Lukas will talk about their project on the residential building in Efringerstrasse in Basel, along with their experience implementing concepts of urban mining and design for disassembly.

Guest Crit EPFL / Strange Encounters

Kai Zipse is a guest critic at the final reviews of the Studio “Strange Encounters” by Truwant + Rodet + at the EPFL in Lausanne on 18th December 2024.

Guest Crit ETH / Letzte Inseln

Christian Weyell and Kai Zipse are guest critics at the final reviews of the studio “Letzte Inseln” by Beer Merz, with the Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation by Prof. Silke Langenberg at ETH Zurich, on 17th and 18th December 2024.

Golden Rabbit 2024

The Primary School Guggach receives the Golden Rabbit 2024. We are thrilled and honored about receiving one of the most prestigious architecture prizes in Switzerland, which awards the best building of the year since 1990.

Hochparterre Video

Hochparterre Online

Tagesanzeiger Zürich

"Care Hubs" - Guest Critic at ETH Zurich

On November 12, 2024, Christian Weyell will be a guest at the Studio “Care Hubs” of Guest Professors Chie Konno, Wataru Doi and Yukari Iwata at ETH Zurich.

“This studio will focus on environments of care that need to be reconsidered, and aims to design new local community centers – Care Hubs –, where people can support each other independent of institutionalized frameworks. This studio will take place in Otelfingen, a rural village near Zurich with a population of about 3,000 people. While rapid population growth in urban areas weakens community ties, in peri-urban areas such as Otelfingen, a subtle network of people‘s lives and activities can be seen. In these areas, we want to find actors who can support and create the environment of care and think about the future of the community.”

Archithese Swiss Live Performance 2024

On 24th October, we will present the project Primary School Guggach, on the event Swiss Live Performance 2024 by the magazine Archithese. The event takes place at the Schweizer Baumuster Centrale in Zurich. We are looking forward to an exciting evening with more short lectures by:

Alias Atelier Burkhalter Sumi Lütjens Padmanabhan Marazzi Reinhardt Stefan Wuelser Balissat Kaçani Studio Ne Sujets Objets and Wild Architekten

Open House Zurich

The Guggach school is opening its doors for the Open House Event in Zurich on 28 September 2024 between 11am and 6pm. Micha Ringger, Christian Weyell, Momoko Yasaka and Kai Zipse will offer guided tours of the school building every hour. We look forward to your visit!

Primary School Guggach completed

After winning the competition in 2018 and 6 years of planning and construction, we are delighted to announce the completion of the Guggach primary school. The school was handed over in August and has been used by the 260 pupils ever since.

Exhibition Kunstmuseum Olten

01.06. – 25.08.2024, Kunstmuseum Olten

We are happy about participating in the exhibition “Begin Again. Fail Better” at the Kunstmuseum Olten, where two drawings of our practice will be shown.

“The summer exhibition “Begin Again. Fail Better – preliminary drawings in architecture (and art)”, which will be accompanied by a publication published by Park Books, is a collaboration between the architects Manuel Montenegro (PT), Helen Thomas (GB) and Marco Bakker (CH/NL), the Drawing Matter Foundation (GB) and the archives of the three Swiss architecture schools ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne and USI-Accademia di architettura Mendrisio, as well as over 50 practicing Swiss architecture firms.”

Kunstmuseum Olten

Guest Crit HSLU

Kai Zipse is an expert / critic in the studio of Stefan Wülser at the Hochschule Luzern, for the mid-term review on 25th April 2024 and final review on 26th June 2024.

1st Prize Open Space Rosental Mitte

Our team of Studio Céline Baumann + Weyell Zipse, in collaboration with Knopp + Kniel and the ecologist Martin Frei, has won the competition Open Space Rosental Mitte.

The oldest still operating area of Basel’s chemical industry between Messe and Badischer Bahnhof will be transformed into an integral attractive and mixed district over the next decades.

We are looking forward to implementing our strategy for the design of the streets, squares and green spaces, in order to define a “set of rules for the open space”.
Activating measures and participatory processes complement the successive change of this central, yet for a long time publically inaccessible part of the city, to create social and urban qualities within a robust and resilient ecological framework.

Federation of Swiss Architects

Christian Weyell and Kai Zipse were appointed members of the Federation of Swiss Architects.

We are very honored and looking forward to being more actively engaged in shaping Swiss building culture.

Link: FSA

Visiting Professorship KIT

We are looking forward to teaching as visiting professors at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2024.

Link: KIT

INSIDE OUT – Raum für Möglichkeiten

Climate change and the associated consequences for people and the environment require us to question our building practice. Dealing with existing buildings is the key to sustainable construction. But how can we make buildings fit for future climatic and social changes – beyond mere refurbishment?

This semester, we want to explore the potential of climatic buffer zones in an experimental, design-led and constructive way. Zones, that are not clearly defined as indoor or outdoor spaces and can change their nature, offering spaces for opportunities. We are looking for future-oriented architecture that questions existing conventions and deals with constructive issues as well as social and societal aspects.

Exhibition Tokyo

We are very excited to be a participant in the exhibition „Swiss Visions“, by JSAA in Tokyo, together with our dear colleagues and friends Truwant + Rodet +, Waldrap and By Jung, shown from March 29th – April 12th 2024 in Axis Gallery, Roppongi, Tokyo.

Join us, for the exhibition opening on March 29th, and our lecture on March 30th in Japan!

More info on: http://js-aa.org

Swiss Visions
A New Generation of Architectural Expressions
『スイス・ヴィジョン ─ 新世代の表現手法』

この度、日本・スイスの建築文化交流のプラットフォームとして2018年に設立した日瑞建築文化協会（JSAA）は、第3回目のイベントとして、スイスの1980年代前半生まれの建築家4組（BYJUNG / Truwant + Rodet + / WALDRAP / Weyell Zipse）の映像・音のインスタレーションの展覧会『スイス・ヴィジョン ─ 新世代の表現手法』を開催いたします。

"On the Ground" - Guest Critic at ETH Zurich

On March 12, 2024, Christian Weyell will be a guest at “Studio Unicorn”, Lisa Euler and Tanja Reimer’s guest studio at ETH Zurich.

“On the Ground – Plinth of the City: Contemporary architecture is in a “crisis of the plinth”. Too little importance is attached to the design and programming of first floors as places of encounter. Urban porosity, differentiated threshold spaces, striking streetscapes and the urban climate call for a new architectural repertoire for the base of the city.”

Architecture Guide Germany 2024

We are excited about the release of the Architecture Guide Germany 2024 by DOM publishers, with House P as the first project!

“From residential buildings to fire stations and park toilets, from Stralsund to Mainz and Regensburg: The Architecture Guide Germany 2024 presents more than 100 high-quality, exemplary buildings and ensembles that have recently been realized. The selection corresponds to the longlist for the DAM Prize for Architecture in Germany 2024.”

DOM Publishers

best architects 24 publication

The book of the best architects 24 award, for which Haus P received the award in gold, has been published.

best architects bookshop

Guggach III Construction Site

The Guggach III construction site is progressing – after the removal of the scaffolding, the facade is now visible. We are looking forward to the completion of the building in summer of 2024!

best architects 24 award

Haus P receives the best architects 24 award in gold.

“The award is conferred each year on completed architecture projects that are distinguished by outstanding architectural quality. An independent jury awards the «best architects» label and the «best architects in gold» label for exceptional quality. The award-winning projects are presented and documented in detail each year in a showcase publication.”

DAM Preis 2024

Haus P is nominated for the DAM Preis 2024. The Prize is awarded annually by the German Architecture Museum, and recognizes the 100 most remarkable buildings in Germany.

Complementing the Prize, the Architecture Guide Germany and the German Architecture Yearbook are published by DOM publishers, Berlin.

"WohnJoker" - Guest Critic at Technical University Darmstadt

Christian Weyell will be a guest critic at the Department of Design and Housing Prof.’in i.V. on Wednesday, 14 June 2023. Dipl.-Ing. Audrey Shimomura at the TU Darmstadt.

“In the design “WohnJoker” we investigate the interaction of an “addition” of a new element in the experimental layout of an existing large housing complex of the 1970s. (…) The aim of the investigation is to design the future of the large housing complex out of its structure itself, i.e. to work not against but with the idea. The spaces and conceptual building typologies offer enough interpretative play and movement space to be reinvented and developed again and again.”

Link

Image: Lageplan Klarenthal Ernst May, Das Neue Wiesbaden, 1963

New Address

We moved! From now on, we work at our new address Efringerstrasse 32, in the residential and office building Riehenring (1980–1985) by Diener & Diener Architects. Come pay us a visit!

Talk EPFL - Un Dîner Avec

We are very happy about the invitation to the lunch talk series “Un Dîner Avec” at EPFL in Lausanne. Join us for an exchange of thoughts on Tuesday, 21st March 2023 at 12:15 at Archizoom, EPFL.

“uda_ (Un Dîner Avec) est une structure membre de l’association des étudiants en architecture (ASAR) à l’EPFL. L’objectif de ce comité est d’organiser différents débats et cycles de conférences en partant du point de vue et des attentes des étudiants.es.”

Instagram link : https://www.instagram.com/uda_epfl/?hl=fr

Website : https://www.epfl.ch/campus/associations/list/asar/index-fr-html/expo-2/

Talk S AM - On the Everyday

YES for Binningen

On Sunday, 25th September 2022, the population of Binningen voted with clear majority to approve the budget of 48 Million CHF for the extension and renovation of the „Schulcampus Dorf“, including a re-design of the public outdoor spaces, to revalue this location in the historic core of Binningen as a public village center.

After 2 years of being on hold, we are very excited to continue working on our project in collaboration with Hörner Architekten, scheduled for completion in 2026.

Vereinslokal completed

The Vereinslokal Guggach is completed. Happy to share the new photographs by Max Creasy, in the middle of the Guggach III construction site.

House E completed

Together with our partner architects Lisa Euler and Aleksandar Ćelović, we are pleased to announce the completion of House E on the Adriatic coast in Istria.

Guest Critic at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technologie

On 04 August 2022 Christian Weyell will be a guest critic at the KIT, Institute of Design, Art and Theory EKUT with visiting professor Madelaine Kessler. The jury itself will take place at 97 Kaiserstrasse, and will run from 10.30-17.30.

“Filling the Void: the death and life of the great European high street, explores the future of the high street through performance-led design. The studio look at the opportunity to test and re-imagine our town and city centres so that they can become places for everyone, whilst also questioning the role of the architect as someone who is both a designer and facilitator of events and conversations that can bring communities and stakeholders together to understand what a place can become.”

Haus P completed

Haus P in Stralsund is completed. We are very happy about the great new pictures by Simon Menges.

1st prize competition Westfeld

We are very happy to have won the 1st prize in the competition for the 2nd construction phase on the Westfeld in Basel. Together with the building cooperative wohnen & mehr, we will realize around 80 apartments and the associated commercial space in the urban environment of the Westfeld, which is characterized by communal forms of living and working.

Open Office

In the context of the Architekturwoche Basel we invite you to visit our office at Ostqaui. On 11. May and 13.5. May from 12:00-17:00 we open the doors for all interested visitors and give an insight into our office practice.

NO TO WAR

Weyell Zipse ist participant in NO TO WAR – a fundraising auction of architectural drawings for humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

“MORE THAN 30 ARCHITECTS, INCLUDING: Peter Märkli, de Vylder / Vinck, MAIO, Alexander Brodsky, Philippe Rahm, FALA, Bureau (Daniel Zamarbide), Oana Stanescu, Comte & Meuwly, Raphael Kadid, NOMOS, Ted`A, Leonard Kadid, A. Vaynberg, Isla, Leopold Banchini, KOSMOS…

WHERE THE COLLECTED MONEY WILL GO: The organizers will buy humanitarian aid (medicine, pampers, hygiene materials etc.) and will directly sent it to the Ukrainian border.

STARTING AUCTION BIDDING PRICE (for most of the drawings) will be 10 Swiss Francs.

WHERE AND WHEN: 30.04.2022 SEEBAHNSTRASSE 155, ZÜRICH. 17:00-21:00”

Organizers: Leonid Slonimskiy, Anastasia Vaynberg, Bianca Gardelegui

Guest Crit TU Darmstadt

Christian Weyell is a guest critic at the Department of Design and Industrial Methods of Building Construction, Prof. i.V. Martin Baur and Florian Latsch at the TU Darmstadt, on Wednesday, 09 February 2022.

“By creating a central Federal Institute for Photography, the competences for restoration, archiving, conservation and digitisation of old photographs, which have so far been decentralised but diverse, are to be bundled in one place. The task is to design a centre of excellence for the preservation of Germany’s photographic and visual heritage.”

Link Department

Guest Crit FHNW Muttenz

Christian Weyell is a guest critic at the final reviews in the studio of Ursula Hürzeler and Shadi Rahbaran at the FHNW in Muttenz, on Wednesday, 12th January 2022.

“An indoor swimming pool for Kleinbasel: The implementation of a new use in the form of an indoor swimming pool in an existing spatial structure should thus create places of liveability and a common identity for the Basel population. Concepts that create overlaps between different uses have proven to be viable. Thus, not only a swimming hall should be designed, but also a concept of use should be developed for the building as a whole with which it is associated.”

link semester program

2nd prize Schulraum Talholz

We are happy to announce that we have, together with Donet Schäfer Reimer Architekten and Studio Vulkan, received the second prize in the competition for a new primary school in Bottmingen, near Basel

Guest Crit HSLU

Kai Zipse is a guest critic in the studio of Marianne Meister at the Hochschule Luzern, for the mid-term review on 26th November 2021 and final review on 20th January 2022.

Panel Swiss Art Awards

We are looking forward to attend the panel “Architecture paradigm change in the emergency of global warming” that is part of the Swiss Art Award Activities Programm on Friday 24th of September from 11am -12.30pm at Halle 3 Messe Basel . Join us on-site or online.

2nd Ankauf / 5th rank, Kunstmuseum Olten

The project by Weyell Zipse and Truwant + Rodet + in collaboration with Margrith + August Künzel Landscape Architects receives the 2nd Ankauf / 5th rank in the competition for the Kunstmuseum Olten.

Guest Crit Uni Kassel

Kai Zipse is a guest critic at the final reviews in the studio of Kawahara Krause at the University of Kassel, on Wednesday, 14th July 2021.

“Architektur bedarf einer stringenten Logik und kann dennoch Unschärfe zulassen. Flux Order will in der Vereinigung des scheinbar Gegensätzlichen das Ungewisse als Potential begreifen. „Architecture as Cave“ beschreibt Architektur, deren räumliches Potential die individuelle Aneignung erfordert. Dem gegenüber steht die „Architecture as Nest“, in der die räumliche Situation durch die Architektur konstruiert ist. Im Spannungsfeld dieser Dualität soll im Entwurf eine Struktur gefunden werden, die den Spielraum der Möglichkeiten zwischen definiert und aneignungsfähig auslotet und somit das Potential des Wandels zum Ausdruck bringt.”

Instagram Studio

2nd prize Fleur de la Champagne

Our project “Common Land” receives the 2nd prize in the competition for cooperative housing “Fleur de la Champagne” in Biel.

Guest Crit FHNW Muttenz

Kai Zipse is a guest critic at the final reviews in the studio of Ursula Hürzeler und Shadi Rahbaran at the FHNW Muttenz, on Tuesday, 15th June 2021.

Link semester program

Guest Crit EPFL / Assemble

Kai Zipse will be a guest critic at the final reviews in the studio of Assemble at the EPFL in Lausanne, on Tuesday, 1st June 2021.

“This studio is founded on the belief that an understanding of how things are made brings an intimate engagement with the problems and possibilities of the real world. We are interested in the material life of buildings, how we process the fabric of our environments to construct spaces. From local resources to global trade; vernacular methods and new technology and auxiliary industrial processes -we will consciously appraise our materials.”

Link studio program

image [im-ij] \ ˈim-ij \

Weyell Zipse is part of the publication “image [im-ij] \ ˈim-ij \” by Archaic Studio.

“A design and communication tool, the image remains a decisive and crucial step in the definition of any project, whether it materializes through its construction or persists under the form of paper architecture.

With Image, Anja Dotter invites us to feel the pulse of a young guard of European architects by questioning them about their relationship to images.

Through a series of interviews with emerging architects, photographers and image makers, Image highlights and confronts different approaches to the architectural image in a world where it circulates, travels and is shared more than ever!”

With contributions by: David Leech, Weyell Zipse, Waldrap, Romain Laprade, Nicolas Dorval-Bory, Kofink Schels, Ponnie, Kollektiv A, Rory Gardiner, Lütjens Padmanabhan, Furlan Beeli, This Orient, OMMX, Filippo Bolognese, Opposite Office, Adam Nathaniel Furman

Link Book Order

Swiss Art Awards

Weyell Zipse has been selected as one of the finalist nominees for the Swiss Art Awards 2021, in the category of Architecture. We feel honored and are very excited!

Save the date for the accompanying exhibition, from 20-26th September 2021*

Swiss Art Awards

„The Swiss Art Competition, held annually since 1899, is the world’s oldest art award. The accompanying Swiss Art Awards exhibition, which is organised by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, offers an insight into current art and architecture in Switzerland and is a valuable reference for art professionals and art lovers.“

Zurich votes YES for school and park Guggach

The Vote for the school and park in the Guggach area was accepted with 87.8 % of Yes-votes. We are very excited about the positive result and the instruction for the realization of the project. Thank you Zurich!

Basler Lieblingshäuser

We got invited by the portal Architektur Basel, to show a selection of three of our favourite buildings in the city. It comes with a photo and a short text. We are delighted to make a contribution to this great series!

https://architekturbasel.ch/weyell-zipse-basler-lieblingshaeuser/

1st prize Espenhof West

We are delighted to announce that we have won the 1st prize in the competition for a new elderly housing in Zurich, and are looking forward to an exciting new project, in collaboration with Hörner Architekten.

Guest Critic Bauhaus-University Weimar

Kai Zipse will be guest critic in the wintersemester 20/21 at the chair of Prof. Jörg Springer, at the Bauhaus-University Weimar, for the design project “Hietalahden Kylpylä”. The studio is looking at the design of a small public pool in the center of Helsinki, opposite of the Hietalahti Market Hall.

Projektmodul | Hietalahden Kylpylä

Building Marker Guggach

The building marker structure on the Guggach site is installed. Exciting! We are dreaming of the real building already…

Vereinslokal Guggach

We are happy to welcome the newest member in our project family: The Vereinslokal Guggach for the Famliengartenverein Zürich-Wipkingen.