Rosengartenplatz mit Gastronutzung.

2006

February: A city labor workshop on the future of the Kalkbreite Areal takes place, which leads to the foundation of the association Kalkbreite in March. From this moment on, the association begins promoting the participatory development of the area and keeps interested parties together.

2007

June: Foundation of the Kalkbreite Cooperative.

September: Building rights for the Kalkbreite site is granted by the City of Zurich. The decisive factor – the project integrates the site into the urban context both structurally and socially, facilitating its growth into a lively center.

2008

From January: Establishment of Cooperative structures at an organisational level, leaving room for interested cooperative members to participate in the future planning process of spatial and utilisation concepts.

July: The City of Zurich public works calls for tenders for the architectural competition. The new building is to create space for 400 users with flexible and modular room concepts for units of different sizes and uses. Accessibility is a prerequisite, as is simple static equilibrium, integrating, where possible, lightweight construction, continuous simple systems of riser zones for home technology or operating utilities, as well as prefabricated wooden elements. Special attention is also paid to sustainability, exterior space and economy.

From September: Occupation of the former Rosengarten restaurant on the Kalkbreite premises. A wide range of events contributes to both the cultural revival of the neighbourhood and the thematic debate on the aims and essence of the Kalkbreite project.

2009

In February 2009, the architectural firm Müller Sigrist AG wins the competition with the ARPA project. Simultaneously, negotiations on the building rights contract are conducted.

2011

On 19 January 2011, the Zurich City Council approves the architectural layout. In September, the appeal period expires without objections and the building permit becomes legally binding. Almost all commercial spaces are rented out before the construction begins. The “Kalkbreite Manual” is developed in a participatory process.

2012

In January, the first construction machinery appears onsite and construction begins.

The foundation stone is laid in April.

2013

In May, the shell of the building is completed and the interior work begins.

2014

The last tenants move in in August. By the opening ceremony, which took place from August 22 to 24, with over 10,000 curious visitors attending, Kalkbreite begins to come alive (see photo gallery).

2017

On 15 and 16 September 2017, the cooperative celebrated its 10th anniversary! High-profile guests such as National Councilor Jacqueline Badran or City Councilor Richard Wolff discussed questions on the topic of “Who owns Zurich?”.

And we took the occasion of the anniversary to ask various individuals about the Kalkbreite Cooperative who were or are involved in its history in different ways (videos in German only):

Res Keller, Co-Founder o Kalkbreite Association and Cooperative and it’s first CEO talks about the beginning:
Erster Teil (1,38 Minuten)

Zweiter Teil (1,49 Minuten)

Martin Vollenwyder, previous City Councilor of Zürich (1,6 Minutes).

Madeleine Hirsch, resident (3 Minutes).

Daniel Leupi, City Councilor of Zurich (1,5 Minutes) speaks about the new Zollhaus project.

Ruth Gurny, President, spekas about the first 10 years of Kalkbreite Cooperative (28 Minutes)