Paula Kern

What was once a vast feudal estate dedicated to wine production has, over time, been subdivided into 21 generous villa plots. Each parcel boasts a large private garden, enclosed by walls and hedges - a pattern still legible in the contemporary cadastral plan. Today, this part of Fluntern remains green and serene, but also socially exclusive and underused.

This project proposes a long-term densification. Private owners transfer the usage rights of their gardens to the city. In return, they receive planning benefits, such as increased building rights. New pathways ensure the permeability and accessibility of the garden landscape. A neighborhood development plan coordinates future growth, allowing new connecting volumes across parcels – not only as housing, but as shared, social infrastructure. To secure gradual transformation, the city receives first-buy rights for all 21 properties. The first step is taken at Hochstrasse 56 and 60a – two centrally located houses that become an anchor for social inclusion. They offer short- and mid-term housing for single parents, a group often overlooked despite making up one in five families in Zurich. House 56 provides “immediate” rooms with shared facilities in the refurbished and extended building. House 60a offers compact transitional apartments and serves as a neighborhood point with a shared kitchen, guest rooms, and support services.

Piece by piece, the gardens reconnect – not as individual backyards, but as patchwork of accessible greens forming a communal garden.