The Metropolitans – aspiring district gets elegant residential towers
The remit here was to create an ensemble that stood on its own architectural merits and provided a meaningful addition to the surrounding built environment. The interior was to provide an upmarket residential space comprising apartments with a variety of different layouts that offered both wide-open vistas and intimacy. The name, casual yet cosmopolitan, says it all – The Metropolitans. These elegant residential towers make a statement, forging a new identity for Zürich’s aspiring Leutschenbach district. The two 60m-high towers are characterised by a bright, projecting facade in limestone concrete that underscores their clean, straight lines and gives then a timeless, exclusive feel. Exciting dialogue. Set in an architecturally disparate environment, these two tower blocks combine to form a shared outdoor space that also provides access to the building and their immediate surroundings are designed to blend into the existing exterior space, creating a coherent, exclusive urban world.
The generous, open architectural approach has produced a stylish residential development.The two buildings are encased in a framework of balconies that gives the apartments a high degree of intimacy, while the open space in front of the buildings bridges the distance to the inner facade, the building’s insulating shell. The apartments measure between 75 and 200m2 and are set over nineteen storeys. Design flexibility and prestige. Inside, openness is once again the order of the day. The floor-to-ceiling windows and glazed balustrades offer unhindered views across the city to the distant Alps, creating wide-open vistas to the exterior and generous spatial proportions and freedom inside. The lack of interior load-bearing walls gives considerable flexibility in layout planning. Spacious, finished in high-quality materials and decorated with contemporary photo art, the common parts underscore the prestigious, cosmopolitan theme. Roof terraces on both towers house “sky lounges” open to all occupants complete with panoramic views provide the icing on the cake.
