Zett house
The Zett-Haus (also Z-Haus ) is a building in the city of Zurich that was built from 1930 to 1932 . It was designed by the architect couple Flora Steiger-Crawford and Rudolf Steiger . The office building, which is one of the most important witnesses of New Building in Zurich, is located on the Stauffacher and is listed in the inventory of art and cultural-historical protected objects of the city of Zurich.
Architecture, technology and equipment
The letter in the name of the Zett House refers on the one hand to the city of Zurich, on the other hand - after all, the “Z” is the last letter in the alphabet - also to the once completed technical and architectural status of the building. The sheer number of different functions and facilities that the Zett house offered were just as new as they were unique for the time. In addition to the office and living quarters, the house also contained a cinema and a bar , the interior and furnishings of which were specially designed and designed for the Zett House. The Zett-Haus also housed various shops , several artist studios , a swimming pool on the flat roof and an underground car park with an electric turntable . In addition, the interior spaces could be changed continuously and without major complications using mobile partition walls .
Roxy cinema
The integrated cinema called Roxy , which was entered through the Zett House and located in an annex in the backyard, offered various functions that were hitherto unknown. It had a sunroof that could be opened when needed and in warm weather. In addition, the hall had headphone stations on some of the 1,000 or so seats, which were also specially developed and designed for the cinema. The first automatic air conditioning system in Switzerland was installed in this cinema . This was manufactured by the company Carrier , whose owner Willis Carrier is considered to be the inventor of the air conditioning system.
The naming of the Zett-Haus cinema is also worth mentioning. "Roxy" was the nickname of the American show business manager Samuel L. Rothafel . In the 1920s, he was one of the first to point out the close connection between the architecture and facade design of a cinema and its commercial success.
At the end of the 1970s the cinema was renamed the Ritz . In 1977 an additional cinema was built in, the Ritz Club . Since May 1993 the cinema has been called Metropol .
Residents
Thanks to the different attractions and possibilities that the Zett House offered, it was frequented by many people for completely different purposes. It was a place to work, to shop, to live and, last but not least, to enjoy leisure time. While the members of the CIAM group (congrès internationaux d'architecture modern / international congresses for new building) were mainly involved in the planning and execution, many other artists and graphic designers, including Richard Paul Lohse, were associated with the Zett-Haus as residents . Suzanne Perrottet's movement school moved in in 1932.
The global economic crisis and the associated social tensions in the Aussersihl quarter resulted in large parts of the planned business premises being rented out as studios or apartments. It so happened that the Zett House soon the majority of students, young artists, bohemians and penniless immigrants from the straight to the Third Reich have become neighbor Germany was populated.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A committed architect and artist | NZZ . January 28, 2004, ISSN 0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed June 6, 2019]).
- ↑ a b Lohse 1981, p. 89.
- ↑ Monument Preservation Inventory of the City of Zurich ( Memento from October 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ When you could swim high above the Stauffacher. In: Tages-Anzeiger , February 2, 2009.
- ↑ Fleischmann et al. 1999, pp. 117-118.
- ↑ Fleischmann et al. 1999, pp. 117-118; Bignens 1988, p. 122.
- ↑ Bignens 1988, p. 83.
- ↑ Bignens 1988, pp. 34-35.
Coordinates: 47 ° 22 '25.8 " N , 8 ° 31' 49.9" E ; CH1903: 682 466 / 247573