Sidi-Areal

"Silkily" gentle living accents

The silk factory Winterthur, known as "Sidi", started in the year 1872 and quickly became the largest of it's kind in Switzerland.The canton of Zurich purchased the areal in 1970. Years later they called out an architectural competition in order to transform the areal into a residential neighbourhood. The owner's main idea and request was to develop "exemplatary house building while maintaining it's industrial character".

When detailing the project current trends in house building and design were incorporated. The wide balcony layers in the courtyard became the key architectural element. They lend a calming and relaxing characteristic to the building and link a timeless textile design to the history of the areal.

It was a quick and easy decision to use architectural wire mesh DOKA-MONO 1601. The geometric design on the wire mesh was achieved by means of sandblasting, allowing the natural color of the stainless steel to be maintained.