Limmatplatz
The Limmatplatz is a place in the industrial quarter in Zurich . It is the junction of Limmatstrasse and the end of Langstrasse , as well as the beginning of the Kornhausbrücke . The square was laid out by Arnold Bürkli around 1900 . The main features consist of a square that was shifted 45 ° to the streets crossing at right angles.
traffic
Limmatplatz is the stop of tram lines 4, 13 and 17, which run on Limmatstrasse, and bus line 32, which goes from Langstrasse in the direction of Kornhausbrücke. An average of 28,000 public transport passengers pass through this stop every day.
The Limmatplatz is not accessible for road traffic in all directions. Due to traffic calming measures in the 1980s, the connection to Limmatstrasse at Limmatplatz is interrupted. From Limmatstrasse you can only drive into Langstrasse on one side and onto Kornhausbrücke from the other. Only traffic coming from Langstrasse has the opportunity to take all the branches. Cars coming from the Kornhausbrücke can either turn into Limmatstrasse towards Escher-Wyss-Platz or drive along Langstrasse.
On February 4, 1979, a new traffic concept for District 5 was presented, in which some changes for the Limmatplatz were already planned. However, the concept also included other restrictions that were not implemented.
building
The dominant building on Limmatplatz is the multi-storey high-rise belonging to the Federation of Migros Cooperatives , which includes office space, a restaurant and a Migros shop. Further shops are located in the surrounding buildings directly on Limmatplatz. At the beginning of the Kornhausbrücke there are buildings from the 1930s on the left and right, which are now used as the vocational school building. There are several cafés on Limmatplatz, the best known being «El Greco». After it closed, another café moved there.
Nearby, in the direction of the main train station, is the listed Limmathaus from 1930. It contains apartments, the post office in the industrial quarter , as well as the concert stages and dance floors, a hotel and a restaurant. The Limmathaus is attached to the Reformed Johanneskirche from 1898.
history
The first buildings were built around 1881, and in 1882 the granary was moved here from the square promenade. In 1883 the city approved the construction lines for the buildings and in 1890 laid the first sidewalks on the edge of the square. When the tram was built, the square had to be rebuilt again in 1898. The square got its current shape in 1930 as a result of the construction of the Kornhausbrücke.
Heroin scene in the 1990s
Limmatplatz became the focus of the heroin scene in the 1990s . After the clearing of the Platzspitz on February 4, 1992, the scene shifted to the other side of the Limmat to the disused Letten train station . The Letten area is connected via a pedestrian bridge, then a pedestrian crossing over the Sihlquai and finally a flight of stairs up the Kornhausbrücke to the Limmatplatz near the vocational school building. This is why the heroin addicts and dealers frequented the nearby Limmatplatz and the addicts inject the heroin on the stairs in front of the school building. The heroin scene thus intervened directly in the everyday life of many people who had to pass through this square or went to school or work there. This fact led to massive protests in the population and gave the decisive breakthrough to the demand for heroin to be dispensed to severely addicts. In 1994, trials with the controlled dispensing of heroin took place in the city of Zurich for the first time. In February 1995 the open heroin scene on Letten was cleared and the new four-pillar principle (prevention, repression, therapy and survival aid / damage limitation = heroin distribution) prevented it in the following years.
Redesign
In May 2007 the square was redesigned. The previous building on the tram island on the long street side from 1942 was a small kiosk with integrated toilets and a snack stand that was set up in the 1990s. There was a simple shelter on the side of the Kornhausbrücke. The architects Lorenz Baumann and Alain Roserens designed a more open space concept. Two massive concrete ceilings form a semicircular roof on each side of the tram stop. They are perforated, so they let light onto the square and give space for the large plane trees on the square. The roofs are supported by cylindrical bodies of different sizes made of steel and glass, some of them are equipped with vertical lights all around. The bodies have different additional tasks and house, for example, a vending machine , an ATM and a toilet. They also serve as advertising space for posters that can be housed in showcases. The largest glass body on the Langstrasse side houses a kiosk and a café bar.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Ina Hirschbiel Schmid, tram stop Limmatplatz , May 2009 [1] ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, traffic regulations (District 5) , February 6, 1979
- ↑ INSA 10, page 364
- ↑ NZZ, Long fight with uncertain outcome , June 16, 2004 Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 7, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 47 ° 23 '5 " N , 8 ° 31' 54" E ; CH1903: six hundred and eighty-two thousand five hundred thirty / 248774