WATCHING THE LAKE THROUGH THE WAVES

Designed by Diener & Diener Architekten, the Swiss Re Next building faces Lake Zurich with its undulating glass facade.

Located in Zurich, the Swiss Re Next building is part of the insurance company’s Mythenquai Campus. The building hovers over the waterfront with its undulating facade, offering workplaces to 1100 employees with its open plan and interconnected offices. The corridor overlooking the lake connects the offices behind it while at the same time allowing users to enjoy the view through the wave-like glass.

Two atriums take the sunlight in via their glass roofs and provide natural light across the offices equally. Meeting Switzerland’s Minergie-P and Minergie-ECO standards, as well as LEED-Platinum certification requirements, the building consumes 80% less energy compared to the previous office of Swiss Re. A combination of concrete curtain walls in the basement floors and steel structure with over 13 meter span in the upper floors define the building’s structural system. This enables flexible office spaces with a shared desk concept and a modular planning that can evolve in time responding to changing needs.

The undulating glass facade has a wavelength of 2.4 meter in the first four floors and a 1.2 meter one in the last two floors in order to provide a dynamic form. The glass panels are hung on stainless steel brackets and are affixed to rods where they overlap with the next panel. Having the same height as its neighboring buildings and replicating the waves of the lake, Swiss Re Next building fits into its urban and natural context.

Photography: © Leonardo Finotti, Alex Filz, Swiss Re, Diener & Diener Architekten​​