The Link
Mediating between heritage and the city — a building that responds in two directions.
The Link sits between two very different neighbours: an urban building on one side and a listed heritage structure on the other. The brief was to mediate — to take a position that respects both without flattening either.
We organised the building horizontally, breaking it into floors that step in and out in response to the façades around it. Each level reads what it sits beside and reacts to it. The result is an elegant, tuned composition that holds its own corner — a corner shared with a major Herzog & de Meuron building across the street.
Façade and programme
The façade is mineral, with sliding metal elements that bring a playful, shifting register to the surface. The intent: a building that positions itself well in the city, responds to the heritage, and reflects the life of the boarding-house guests inside.
Behind the main volume, a second smaller structure is planned in the courtyard, with a parking level below.
Scope
- Architecture and façade design for boarding-house
- Heritage-sensitive integration
- Mineral façade with kinetic metal elements
- Secondary courtyard volume
- Underground parking
Approach
Listening before drawing. The building is shaped by what surrounds it — the heritage on one side, the urban grain on the other, the great H&dM volume across the corner.
