Street Corners. A Zürich Lexicon

Abstract

It has been argued that streets are the quintessential social spaces of the urban environment. The street unites an infrastructural function with the public life of inhabitants and the appearances of outsiders within the limited frame of the street scape. In this perspective the street corner is essential: it brings together at least two streets, two different worlds, and embed them in the larger infrastructural fabric and public spaces of the urban territory. The importance of street corners is often articulated in their architecture; through the use of elements such as entrance portals, balconies and notable roof scapes, or by giving the corner special formal attention, intense ornamentation, or material specialization. As part of their Grundlagen studies, students of architecture were asked to analyze the architecture of a street corner in the form of a diptych: a combination of text and drawing. Together, these diptychs construct a lexicon of street corners that speaks of the characteristics and qualities of Zürich.