Bauschaenzli Restaurant

The Bauschaenzli is one of Zurich’s last remaining medieval ramparts: a free-standing, fortified island in the River Limmat, where lake and river meet. The island, which is planted with high trees, houses a summer restaurant, which is reached by a small footbridge that has also been the subject of examination by Calatrava.

The city’s Department of Building approached Calatrava because the restaurant’s service core required modernizing. He suggested placing the kitchen and services underground to free the area above. For the central paved surface of the open-air restaurant, which extends beneath the trees, Calatrava proposed a weather cover in the form of a foldable glass-and-steel roof. Nine interlocking structures, based on an umbrella roof concept with a filigrane central support, take up the tree motif. Each element of the system, 12 meters high, was designed as four articulated glazed leaves, which hinge upward along eight edges to define the outline of a star. When unfolded, the inclining planes create a continuous roof, enabling continuous and comfortable use of the open-air, self-service restaurant during the short summer season and well into autumn.