Motorway service station Würenlos

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Shopping rest stop Würenlos in the direction of Zurich

The Würenlos motorway service station is located west of Zurich in the municipality of Würenlos in the canton of Aargau . This motorway service station is one of three in Switzerland with a bridge restaurant . It was opened in 1972 and is located on the A1 / A3 , one of the busiest motorway sections in the country. When it opened, it was the largest motorway service area in Europe. Colloquially, the term "Fressbalken" is widespread, the little known official name of the facility is Shopping-Raststätte Würenlos . The rest stop is operated by Bovida Real Estate AG based in Baar .

investment

The rest stop is halfway between Baden and Dietikon at the narrowest point in the Limmat Valley , in the immediate vicinity of the confluence of the Furtbach and the Limmat . The village center of Würenlos is a little more than a kilometer to the east, on the opposite side of the Limmat is the village of Killwangen .

Every year the rest stop has around 2.3 million visitors and 1.2 million refueling stops (2010).

Building

Interior view of the Marché restaurant on the upper floor of the service area

The building planned by the Zurich architects Marti + Kast is 140 meters long and between 18.6 and 36 meters wide. The bridge spans the entire motorway at a height of up to 17 meters, supported by two distinctive 45 meter high pylons (28 meters above the roof). 7800 m² of floor space is spread over two floors. Under the bridge is in each case in the region of abutment each have a gas station with an associated Store integrated. The delivery for the entire bridge structure is also located on the northeast side behind the petrol station shop.

Usage and opening times

With the renovation in 2004, Mövenpick's catering areas were greatly reduced and were limited to the Mövenpick Café at the northeast end of the bridge and the Marché Restaurant in part of the upper floor. At the southwest end of the bridge, however, a single-storey pavilion was built, in which Marché, as a franchisee, Burger King settled. At that time, the three restaurants offered a total of around 500 seats. After the renovation, the shop area comprised 19 restaurants. As part of the change of ownership, the rest area has been gradually rebuilt since 2017, with several of the shops being modernized. Today there are shops of well-known Swiss retail chains such as Coop, Nestlé, Läderach, Victorinox, Alfons Blumenmarkt and Christ in the service area.

The filling stations have been operated by Gulf Oil since the opening and by Shell since takeover in 1983 ; the petrol station shops now present themselves as Migrolino locations.

The shops are open twelve hours a day, the petrol stations around the clock.

10 of a total of 20 electric charging stations for electric cars of all types in front of the entrance to the service area

Parking spaces

As part of the renovation of the service area, which was completed at the end of November 2019, the number of available parking spaces was increased to a total of 560. In addition, 20 charging stations for electric vehicles were built and a dedicated Park & ​​Ride area was put into operation.

history

Model in Swissminiatur (shows the state before the renovation)

Most of the Swiss motorway network came into being in the 1960s and 1970s. The Hunzenschwil - Neuenhof section was opened on October 7, 1970, followed by the Neuenhof - Zurich section on October 15, 1971. Right from the start, the responsible federal authorities had planned the construction of a service area in Würenlos, and in 1968 the Aargau civil engineering office initiated a tendering process. Initial considerations were based on the assumption that a dam would be built in the area of ​​the Furtbach estuary and the rest area would be built on it. When the Würenlos municipal council spoke out against this construction method, the planners decided in favor of a bridge construction. Gulf Oil was interested in the petrol station operation , while Mövenpick was awarded the contract for the catering section. On February 4, 1971, the Würenlos AG motorway service station was founded , in which Gulf Oil and Mövenpick each held half.

A legal opinion in October 1969 came to the conclusion that the canton, as the landowner, was solely responsible for the building permit and the municipality of Würenlos only had the right to be heard. A zoning of the area is not necessary. The villagers themselves were informed about the building project in May 1970; there does not seem to have been any significant opposition. In a building lease , the canton ceded the property to Gulf Oil and Mövenpick, and in October 1970 it issued the building permit . Construction work began in November 1971 and lasted around a year. The timely completion of the project appeared to be in jeopardy in March 1972 as there was insufficient accommodation for the staff. Objections delayed the construction of a staff house in the village, so that provisional pavilions had to be erected at the southern bridgehead. Some of these remained standing until 1978.

The plant, which had cost 25 million francs, was put into operation in November 1972. On November 24th there was a presentation for 200 invited guests and journalists, the official opening ceremony on December 1st. At that time, the facility in Würenlos was the largest motorway service area in Europe. In the 1970s, the rest stop was popular as a destination for excursions, especially on the weekends, due to its wide range of restaurants and shopping opportunities. Soon the term "fressbarken" was established, which is still used today. The rest stop received extensive literary appreciation in the novel Nobody is an Island by Johannes Mario Simmel , published in 1975 . A model of the service area is also in the "Swissminiatur" annex. The motorway service station was rebuilt in 2004 with a financial outlay of 23 million francs. The area of ​​the shops was enlarged at the expense of the catering area. The orange-brown color scheme of the facade, which was typical of the 1970s, was replaced by a new white-blue paint. In 2008/09, the car park at the rest stop was a well-known meeting point for the tuning scene throughout Switzerland , until the police prevented further night-time meetings with several large-scale checks.

Interior view of the upper floor with the new floors, light and wooden elements as well as the two new escalators

With a contract dated October 24, 2011, "Shell (Switzerland) AG", the legal successor to Gulf Oil, which was taken over in 1983, decided to withdraw from the stake in the service station. At the General Meeting on June 19, 2012, the share capital was restructured; In this context, on the one hand, a capital reduction was carried out by destroying 500 registered shares and 456 registered participation certificates; on the other hand, the outstanding 2544 registered participation certificates were converted into registered shares. In mid-2017 it became known that “Bovida Real Estate AG”, based in Baar ZG , had taken over the service area with retroactive effect from April 1, 2017. After the service station was sold, a further capital reduction was carried out on November 2, 2017, with 2,894 registered shares being canceled and repaid; At the end of February 2018, the now functionless “Autobahn-Raststätte Würenlos AG” was renamed “Actria AG”, the company's purpose was changed and the headquarters were relocated to Teufen AR .

Under the new owners, the rest area was renewed between the end of September and the end of November 2019 for around 10 million francs. The renovation of floors, ceilings and lighting, the installation of two escalators for the first time between the two public floors, the renovation of the outdoor playground, the expansion to 560 parking spaces and the wheelchair-accessible design of the entire facility were highlighted. With the commissioning of twenty charging stations for electric vehicles in cooperation with the Swiss company GoFast and the conversion of all light sources to LEDs, which led to savings of 85 percent of the previous energy consumption, a focus was placed on sustainability. In addition, the construction of a photovoltaic system and the gradual expansion of the e-charging stations were announced for the future. In spring 2020, the Coop Cooperative expanded its role as anchor tenant in the catering and shopping area with the opening of a new Coop branch and a fourth Marché format; the expansion takes place at the expense of the Migros Aare branch and the Globus men's clothing branch .

media

DJ EDX on the roof of the Würenlos service area
Swiss DJ and house producer EDX during his livestream from the roof of the Würenlos shopping service station.

On July 3, 2020, the Swiss DJ and house producer EDX streamed a two-hour live set from the roof of the Würenlos service station. The appearance arose from the artist's idea to offer his fans a risk-free show during the corona crisis .

View of the Würenlos service area from the playground on the forest side (direction Basel / Bern)

literature

  • Roman Würsch: Würenlos Blätter . Ed .: Kulturkreis Würenlos. Würenlos 2010.

Web links

Commons : Motorway service station Würenlos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roman Würsch: Würenlos Blätter 2010 . Ed .: Kulturkreis Würenlos, residents and local citizens' community Würenlos. No. 10 , p. 12 .
  2. ↑ Martin Rupf: Should one better call the "eating bar" "eating bar"? In: Aargauer Zeitung . January 26, 2011, accessed October 19, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b From the «feeding bar» to the balance beam. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . December 10, 2004, accessed October 19, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Fabian Hägler: "Fressbalken" becomes "Freshbalken": Autobahn service station is being refreshed for over 10 million francs. In: aargauerzeitung.ch. October 14, 2019, accessed July 16, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Würenlos leaves. P. 3.
  6. ↑ Christian Kolbe: Fressbalken: The boss shows the converted Würenlos rest area. In: blick.ch. November 29, 2019, accessed December 11, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Electromobility: Desirably happy in Würenlos. In: gofast.swiss. December 2, 2019, accessed December 11, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Andrea Schweizer: Shopping-Raststätte Würenlos (AG) was rebuilt. In: nau.ch. December 1, 2019, accessed July 16, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Würenlos leaves. Pp. 8-10.
  10. ↑ a b Würenlos leaves. P. 14.
  11. ↑ Würenlos leaves. P. 11.
  12. ↑ Würenlos leaves. P. 16.
  13. ↑ Würenlos leaves. Pp. 16-17.
  14. ↑ Würenlos leaves. P. 12.
  15. ↑ Helene Arnet: Facelift for an icon of the seventies. In: tagesanzeiger.ch. November 29, 2019, accessed July 16, 2020 .
  16. ^ Roman Würsch: Würenlos Blätter 2010 . Ed .: Kulturkreis Würenlos, residents and local citizens' community Würenlos. No. 10 , p. 17 .
  17. ↑ Partial opening of the Mövenpick motorway service station. (PDF; 117 kB) (No longer available online.) Mövenpick , July 20, 2004, archived from the original on September 6, 2018 ; Retrieved October 19, 2014 .
  18. ↑ Shock therapy for the car tuners. In: Aargauer Zeitung . July 7, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2014 .
  19. ↑ a b Entry “Actria AG”, formerly “Autobahn-Raststätte Würenlos AG” in the commercial register of the canton of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden
  20. ↑ "Fressbalken" has a new owner - and he raves about the location of the rest stop . In: Badener Tagblatt. July 3, 2017, accessed December 12, 2019.
  21. ↑ Everything will be new with the «Fressbalken» . In: blick.ch , October 14, 2019, accessed on December 12, 2019.
  22. ↑ Fabian Hägler: "Fressbalken" becomes "Freshbalken": Autobahn service station is being refreshed for over 10 million francs. In: aargauerzeitung.ch. October 14, 2019, accessed July 16, 2020 .
  23. ↑ It turns the feeding bar into a fresh bar . In: blick.ch , November 29, 2019, accessed on December 12, 2019.
  24. ↑ Fabian Hägler: "Fressbalken" becomes "Freshbalken": Autobahn service station is being refreshed for over 10 million francs. In: aargauerzeitung.ch. October 14, 2019, accessed July 16, 2020 .
  25. ↑ DJ EDX appears on the «feeding bar». July 2, 2020, accessed August 10, 2020 .
  26. ↑ DJ «EDX» on the feeding bar Würenlos: party risk-free. Tele M1, July 2, 2020, accessed August 10, 2020 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '18.9 "  N , 8 ° 20' 51"  E ; CH1903:  668 559  /  254594