YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS
A look at the history of the neighbourhood: in the second half of the 19th century, Aussersihl, a separate municipality located west of the city of Zurich (on the other side of the Sihl River) experienced a substantial increase in population due to industrialisation and railway construction. This brought the municipality into financial difficulties and eventually to the point of asking the city of Zurich for “annexation”. The incorporation took place in 1893 and was of great significance to both cities, since Aussersihl, with a population of about 30,000 inhabitants, was more populous than Zurich! A high proportion of foreigners and, according to the origin of the guest workers, lots of Italianità flair characterized life in the neighbourhood. The multicultural diversity as well as the supply of affordable housing have remained to this day, which is also reflected in the intensive and varied use of open spaces and squares.
From a cemetery to a public park …
At the same time as the Central Cemetery (now the Sihlfeld Cemetery) was established as the first non-denominational burial site in Zurich, the cemetery of the municipality of Aussersihl was built on the opposite side of the street in 1877. As a result of the incorporation, however, this cemetery was abandoned in 1897 and turned into a public park, the Fritschiwiese, in 1921. The park as well as the adjacent street running through the neighbourhood were named after Benjamin Fritschi, a city councillor from 1892-1914, who had been a major driving force behind the incorporation of the surrounding municipalities into the Zurich city area in 1893 and who had also supported the then idea of transforming open green spaces in the densely populated working-class neighbourhoods into public parks to promote meaningful and healthy leisure activities.
The initial design of the now public green space was the result of a competition to build the first urban housing estate in the 1920s. The implementation of the Zurlinden housing estate (winning project of the competition) provided the park with a clear spatial structure in the urban setting as well as with numerous users from the surrounding apartments. This laid the foundation for the family-friendly play and sports area.
… and to a popular neighbourhood park
In the 1970s, changes to adjoining street spaces, but above all the installation of an underground substation and civil underground shelters, necessitated a redesign of the park: the required above-ground structures were integrated into the park in the style and with the means of the boom years, while the huge volumes of excavated material were modelled into a hilly landscape without further ado and designated as a “construction playground”. Two water basins heated with waste heat were also newly installed, which have become the main attraction of the park for young and old during the summer months and now form an integral part of the park. All these structural additions promoted a variety of new and different uses, but hardly affected the original appearance of the public park with its central playground framed by lime trees.
The following decades of intensive use had tangible consequences: structures and equipment in need of renovation, play facilities being dismantled due to non-compliance with new standards, but also latent conflicts between different user groups.
In 2011, the city therefore launched a participatory process among all affected users and representatives of public authorities. At public workshops and information events, it was possible to coordinate wishes and needs from the neighbourhood and thus gradually give shape to a comprehensive redevelopment project. This project aimed to bring the concise design and spaciousness of the Fritschiwiese park back into the foreground and to enhance it – entirely in line with the underlying concept of a public park.
The surrounding fringe areas could be expanded in a differentiated manner and fitted with play and recreational facilities to provide a variety of possible uses. In order to promote a more harmonious coexistence, various useful areas could be deconcentrated, while, by contrast, many play areas could be combined to enable continuous, “smoother” play processes.
Today the Fritschiwiese – whether it is a public park, a neighbourhood park or even a municipal park, that is left to the users to decide – has become an important place for encounters, play and sports for all age groups, which is well known beyond neighbourhood boundaries.
Play stations then …
In 1982, the sculptor Yvan Lozzi Pestalozzi was commissioned by the Zurich Municipal Electric Utility with the creation of a walk-in iron sculpture next to the water basins, thus adding another attraction to the park. The press said: ̔”What is this going to be?” Yvan Pestalozzi has been asked this question again and again since he began to install the “Stromer” in the Fritschiwiese park. The children are always satisfied with the answer that a windmill, a crank handle and a treadwheel generate electricity, by which, in turn, a ball track is to be operated. And they are happy that after completion of the object they are allowed to get their own muscles going, while the adults often also want to know what such an object is good for.̕ (Tages Anzeiger, 1982).
The artist Pestalozzi gained fame at that time for his “Lozziworm”, a tangle of interlocking plastic pipes through which children could climb. It became a real “export hit”, but later failed to meet the requirements of the playground standards. The above-mentioned “Stromer” suffered a similar fate: due to increasing vandalism, its maintenance could no longer be ensured, which is why it was removed in 1996 and installed in a rural environment. Although it was not damaged there, it was removed again and stored in 2018 due to its non-compliance with safety standards.
… and now
“What is this going to be…?” Children and adults are also standing at the site fence during the 2016 construction work and are asking construction workers this question who are busy assembling wave-shaped concrete elements in the shade of the lime trees. A few days later, high blue waves retain “sand mountains” or act as dams holding back future floods caused by the rotary water pump. A wooden footbridge situated right in the middle invites you to sit down or is a mud table or a «diving board» at the same time. You can crawl through the big wave without getting wet, but any surfing or sliding down into the accumulated water may well end up in a bath.
After the children have a rough idea of the play opportunities that are being created for them, they can hardly wait for the completion and the coming warm days.
In order to lend a playful and special touch to the Fritschiwiese – perhaps not without a wink at the former visionary namesake – the “Fritschis” were created during the planning process: park objects, play objects or objects for guessing games that appear and disappear again, jump around joyfully or doze lazily throughout the park.
“What is this going to be? What is the use of it?” As soon as the “Fritschis” were on site, the variety of reactions and uses answered all these questions.
From a wide variety of play opportunities …
The areas in the park providing various possible uses have been deconcentrated as far as possible and play facilities have been added to ensure that different user groups do not “get in each other’s way” too much. In the “play section” along the playground, diverse play equipment provides various opportunities to engage in physical activity and play. The arrangement of play equipment – in line with considerations to differentiate according to age groups – thus allows on the one hand simple and unstructured play for the very little ones and on the other hand provides the opportunity for the older ones to try more daring and challenging activities at a sufficient distance to the toddler play area.
Both the play equipment itself and its arrangement make it possible to play in groups or alone. For example, combination swings or various spinning elements provide play space for groups, while “individual balancing” is called for on the balance course with different levels of difficulty.
While the central court is ideal for streetball and small soccer tournaments, thus attracting young people and adults, table tennis and pétanque enable multigenerational play. Finally, the “mind athletes” don’t miss out either: they move their pieces across the chessboard or the Nine Men’s Morris board at the “Popcorn”, the neighbourhood meeting place.
The hilly landscape had lost its appeal as a playscape due to much too dense vegetation and increasing littering. Thinning of vegetation, combined with the creation of an interplay of insights, outlooks and views as well as the provision of various play opportunities re-integrate this attractive and unique landscape into the park and make it tangible and accessible from all sides: a boulder wall enables both experienced and inexperienced climbers to climb the wall on different routes in order to reach the hill. Less daring ones can explore the ridges and hollows of the Haselstauden hilly landscape on trails, where they will find various seats and play stations such as a ropeway, a long slide or a chill-out hammock.
... to a wealth of pleasures and delights held in store by the park
At the foot of the hilly landscape, seating areas with tables and benches, fireplaces, barbecue areas and water places invite groups of all sizes to linger and watch others play and exercise in the open air, to have a barbecue or to simply relax in the shade of lime and chestnut trees.
In conclusion, the culinary delights served up at the neighbourhood meeting place with part-time catering, the many hours you can spend sunbathing on the lawn, the entertaining scenes of large families celebrating and their onlookers, as well as the regular visitors to the park radiating inner peace should be mentioned here as examples of the many pleasures and delights that the park holds in store for you – the Fritschiwiese, this lively microcosm in the form of a public park, invites you to linger and enjoy!
Photo: Sigrid Hausherr (Ernst und Hausherr Landschaftsarchitekten BSLA)
Further information:
Ernst und Hausherr Landschaftsarchitekten BSLA
Niederdorfstrasse 20 | 8001 Zurich
www.ernstundhausherr.ch
Client: Grün Stadt Zürich (Office of Parks and Open Spaces of the City of Zurich), project planning and construction
Project: Ernst und Hausherr Landschaftsarchitekten BSLA, Zurich.
Project management: Thomas Bachofner
