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FS20, Albis Arena, Project by Group 15

Boulodrome

A warm sunday afternoon. It must be the first this year. A silver ball in his hand, a little wooden ball some ten meters in front of him. “Tu tires où tu pointes?” shouts this colleague in the back. He aims at his target, tips his upper body slightly forward, his right arm stretches out, his left leg lifts off the ground to keep balance and then he throws his ball. There goes the shiny ball, gliding lightly through the air before hitting the ground. From there it continues its path, pushing other balls out of its way before it finally reaches its stop. Heads turn. It stopped next to the wooden ball. We won.

Pétanque, a sport that belongs to the family of boules, embraces serenity and does not need spectacle. It is a sport of the everyday. But despite its modesty, the arrangement of a group of round boules never fails to make one stop, rest and watch. With its simple setting, it occupies urban piazzas and secluded corners of parks. As a sport for the collective neither does it require much equipment nor many skills.

A Boulodrome transforms the Schiessanlage into an isle of the everyday, where everyone finds a place to rest and observe a simple game of Pétanque. The sport of Pétanque carries with it an appreciation for the seeming mundanity of the everyday. At the Boulodrome, however, the everyday becomes the spectacle.

“All of these Gardens indulge in a kind of delirium that comes with the release from responsibilities in the World: as Man was cast out of the Garden [Eden], obligation, toil, hardship and pain became his burden, so a return to a fantasy of the Garden [...] implies that all the shocks and natural heartaches of the World are replaced with pleasure; with ludic entertainments, titillations, excitements, and even the thrill of panic and terror.“

Our Boulodrome is a contemporary garden of entertainment, of committed participation in and close observation of the sport, of seeing and being seen. The relationship between players and spectators becomes the driving force in the garden design.

Topography, vegetation and existing buildings serve as a starting point in defining axes across the area. Where two axes meet, a timber structure allows for observing the surrounding fields of play, but they too allow to look further to where another game of boules could be happening. The existing buildings of the shooting range are used similarly, as end-points of axes giving space to boules-playing and creating moments of observation.

FS 20, Albis Arena, Project by Group 15

Boulodrome

Moving through the area of Friesenberg one meets a patchwork of landscape rooms, making the border of the city an actively cultivated and used space. Usually spatially segregated from the public paths and roads, these rooms offer a multitude of uses, spatial organizations and logics of ownership of territory. Alongside those rooms within Friesenberg meanders the Panoramaweg that simultaneously connects all of them. As an elongated Belvedere, this space of leisure stages the panoramic view over Friesenberg and the city.

The Panoramaweg is extended to reach its end at the target structure of the former Schiessanlage. As the last moment of the Panoramaweg, it offers a last grand vista over Zurich and a first impression of the garden from above. Alongside this extension a contemporary garden of entertainment takes shape, where committed participation in and close observation of the sport is celebrated.

The garden is to be enclosed towards the outside through the extension of the forest border. While to the inside this border gives shape to moments of play, it defines to the outside the perimeter of the garden and allows with its variation in density moments of insights.

Inside the garden, the sport of Pétanque is celebrated. It is a sport of the everyday. But despite its modesty, the arrangement of a group of round boules never fails to make one stop, rest and watch. The interaction between players and spectators is the driving force in creating the layout of the garden. A system of pathways inside the garden allows for playing, strolling and observing. A main path, articulated with gravel ground, takes the visitor through the garden, coming by rooms, where the sport of boules-playing and the relation of spectator and player is spatially manifested. Upon entering, one moves on an elevated wooden path one step above ground. As the element of transformation, it makes passerby’s spectators of the spectacle. Only when stepping down from the path, one becomes actively involved in the game. While along the axis of the water-stream three rooms are formed by plantation, the two existing shooting buildings are transformed into interiors that accommodate the sport and the spectators. Making use of the voluminous border smaller moments of play invite for a game of Pétanque, scattered across the garden. Informal pathways formulate connections and a secondary system of movement. In the two existing buildings of the shooting range, the path finds two ends and what becomes the focus of attention is the sight over the garden.

FS 20, Albis Arena, Project by Group 15

Boulodrome VII

Moving through the area of Friesenberg one meets a patchwork of landscape rooms, making the border of the city an actively cultivated and used space. Usually spatially segregated from the public paths and roads, these rooms are different in their use, spatial organization and ownership of territory. The Schrebergardens make up a big part of Friesenberg. They are small-scale gardens that are owned by the city and cultivated actively by their tenants. Other territories within Friesenberg are cemeteries and tennis courts. All of these rooms shut themselves off from the outside through wire mesh fences, often in an everything-will-do manner that can also include other forms of fencing.

Alongside those rooms within Friesenberg meanders the Panoramaweg that simultaneously connects all of them. As an elongated Belvedere, this space of leisure stages the panoramic view over Friesenberg and the city.

The Panoramaweg that is already connecting the other rooms in Friesenberg is extended to reach its end at the Boulodrome. From the Panoramaweg, the Garden is entered through the target structure of the former Schiessanlage. As the last moment of the Panoramaweg, it offers a last grand vista.

Inside the garden, the sport of Pétanque is celebrated. It’s a sport of the everyday. But despite its modesty, the arrangement of a group of round boules never fails to make one stop, rest and watch. The close interaction between players and spectators is the driving force in creating the layout of the garden. The circulation inside the garden follows a hierarchal system of pathways that allows playing, strolling and observing.

The main path through the garden is built as a wooden path that lies one step above ground. It is the element of transformation within the garden: as the spectators stroll on the path, they can observe everything happening in the garden. Stepping down from the path, they become a part of the stage that is the garden and participate in a game of boules. With its meandering movement through the rooms of the garden, the path triggers the visitors to step down. Repeatedly it brings the spectators close to moments of spectacle.

An already existing system of trails that encircle the Albisgüetli shooting range define the perimeters of the garden. Its border is made through a voluminous forest, separating the pathways outside from the garden interior. It therefore consists mainly of tree trunks and leaves that can also be understood as big wooden beams surrounded by a translucent volume. The aim for the model is to represent this voluminous border. Possibly also including the wooden path, representing the audience that is surrounded everywhere by the Everyday Spectacle that is Pétanque.

In being separated from the outside, common sense of time is lost within the garden and replaced thorough cycles. Cycles of the Day, Season and Year, planting cycles and maintenance are aspects that influence the garden experience.

FS 20, Arena, Boulodrome by Group 15

Boulodrome VI, Pt.1

Moving through the area of Friesenberg one meets a patchwork of landscape rooms, making the border of the city an actively cultivated and used space. Usually spatially segregated from the public paths and roads, these rooms are different in their use, spatial organization and ownership of territory. The Schrebergardens make up a big part of Friesenberg. They are small-scale gardens that are owned by the city and cultivated actively by their tenants. They are always spatially enclosed towards the outside with wire mesh fences, often in an everything-will-do manner that can also include other forms of fencing. Other territories within Friesenberg that are owned by the city if Zurich are cemeteries and tree nurseries. These shut themselves off from the outside in a similar manner as do the Schrebergardens. Within those interiors, the paths and patches of green that formulate the rooms are strictly organized.

Alongside of these rooms within Friesenberg meanders the Panoramaweg. As an elongated Belvedere, this space of leisure stages the panoramic view over Friesenberg and the city.

As the other landscape rooms within Friesenberg, our Boulodrome too is connected to the Panoramaweg. The rooms within the Schiessanlage lie adjacent to the extended path and can therefore also be understood as a further landscape room at the edge of the city. For the spectators, the garden is entered through the Panoramaweg and experienced through different spatial surroundings, formulated with built and grown infrastructure.

Reflecting on the inherent enclosure of gardens, we critically contemplate for our own garden this act towards the outside landscape. While the enclosure is an unmissable attribute of a garden, we seek to establish no further physical border in the Friesenberg area. Rather should the border of the garden be experienced sensuous and mentally.

As a place for entertainment, the sport of Pétanque is celebrated within the garden. It’s a sport of the everyday. But despite its modesty, the arrangement of a group of round boules never fails to make one stop, rest and watch. The close interaction between players of the sport and visitors of the garden is the driving force in creating the layout of the garden. The circulation inside the garden follows a hierarchal system of pathways that allows playing, strolling and observing. In being separated from the outside, common sense of time is lost within the garden and replaced thorough cycles. Cycles of the Day, Season and Year, planting cycles and maintenance are aspects that influence the garden experience.

FS20, Albisgüetli Arena, Project by Group 15

Boulodrome V

While having focused on the layout and formation of several rooms according to landscape techniques of the Baroque, we now approach a more contemporary garden for the area of the Schiessanlage Albisgüetli. Still, we take on several aspects typical of the Baroque garden into our design, having discovered in them a valuable quality. Reflecting on territorial orientation, we see clear axes as a tool to help the visitor situate him or herself within the garden. By creating a hierarchal system of pathways, the visitor is guided and senses an emphasis at specific centralities. Water is the most basic element in the creation of a garden. Where it comes from and its important role in creating cycles of vegetation and the creation of soil should be a centrality. Baroque Gardens make use of topography to enhance vistas, at the end of which, earth and sky become one. The orchestrating of specific views into the landscape can creates moments of contemplation for the visitor and allows for territorial and cosmic orientation. In its most basic sense, a garden must be an enclosed space. “The garden gathers the landscape around it and at the same time shuts itself off from it. The enclosed garden is as broad as the landscape, in that it incorporates the expansiveness of the sky, and as contained as a building.” At last, we continue with our understanding of the garden as being a ludic place where “all shocks and natural heartaches of the world are replaced with pleasure”.

In a more contemporary approach, we now search for borders and ways of moving through our garden.

Shifting away from clearly, all too powerfully defined rooms with a clear program, we now aim to create a system of pathways. It follows and makes active use of the existing mounts. What before were the borders of our rooms, become now spacious walls creating a network for movement within the garden. The rooms of our garden are created by their negative space.

Thus the garden is defined by its borders, movements and cycles.

FS 20, Arena, Project by Group 15

Boulodrome

Pétanque, a sport that belongs to the family of boules, embraces serenity and does not need spectacle. It’s a sport of the everyday. But despite its modesty, the arrangement of a group of round boules never fails to make you stop, rest and watch. With its simple setting, it occupies urban piazzas and secluded corners of parks. As a sport for the collective it neither does require much equipment nor many skills.

A Boulodrome transforms the Schiessanlage into an isle of the everyday, where everyone finds a place to rest and observe a simple game of Pétanque. While a typical stadium is often commercially orientated and makes a profit under the veil of sports entertainment, we want to extract the sociability and feeling of collectiveness. The sport of Pétanque carries with it an appreciation for the seeming mundanity of the everyday. At the Boulodrome, however, the everyday becomes the spectacle. Our arena is a modern garden of entertainment, of committed participation in and close observation of the sport, of seeing and being seen from the stage that is Friesenberg.

“All of these Gardens indulge in a kind of delirium that comes with the release from responsibilities in the World: as Man was cast out of the Garden [Eden], obligation, toil, hardship and pain became his burden, so a return to a fantasy of the Garden […] implies that all the shocks and natural heartaches of the World are replaced with pleasure; with ludic entertainments, titillations, excitements, and even the thrill of panic and terror.“ As does the Baroque Landscape Garden, the Boulodrome too strives for entertaining, exciting and thrilling the people. Therefore, the layout of the Baroque landscape garden is similarly executed in the Boulodrome to stage an ideal setting for entertainment. The very geometrical layout of the area, the small artificial flows and walkways that pervade the landscape and the main points of orientation already set the framework for further development.

A combination of paths, boulevards, hedges, tree aligned squares, meadows, fountains, and basins create a contemporary interpretation of a baroque garden. But rather than making a big, dominant gesture on the existing terrain, the existing infrastructure and planting actively influence the garden design. A catalogue of the baroque garden and the Schiessanlage helps to collect further knowledge and determine their similarities and differences.

As for the Garden layout, the already existing extensive collection of trees and topographical layout serve as a framework for the rooms within the Boulodrome. We determined nine such rooms, all of them equipped with a combination of built and grown structures. The built and grown give the rooms their individual character. Wooden structures of a local material adapted and brought into order.

FS20, Arena, Project by Group 15

Boulodrome

I sense rays of sunlight making their way through the dense roof of leaves. I squeeze shut my eyes, losing sight at the infinite number trunks of trees. I am greeted by a proud walnut tree, not being bothered by the time passing. I feel enclosed as the pattern of small-leaved trees standing side-by-side embraces me. I look left and right and uphill and downhill and see further. I arrive at where water is celebrated. It comes down fluidly, not resting on its way down. I make my way uphill, past elderly with canes and children chasing eachother. I stop to watch a simple game of boule. Round on rectangular. Body tipped slightly forward, right arm stretched out, left leg lifted off the ground. Gliding lightly through the air the shiny ball hits the ground. Heads turn, it stops. We Won. I go further up, pathways set up to lose time. I stop and look over the edge of the garden, the edge of the forest and the edge of the city. I make my way indoors and peak through the hole, pierced by previous sport. My view glides along with the firs, going up to where crowns meet horizons. I step out, strolling downhill, following the water’s natural stream. Coming to a checked floor, a game simple to understand is unambitiously played by few. I take another turn, now being captured by a space of silence for a busy mind. Leaves of trees as ears. As water is spilled into a small pond, I arrive at the foot of what I sense is the garden. I stroll through the green and catch a glimpse of bright yellow flower heads, invited to leave the addressed path. Flowers and people enjoying each other’s company, Scents of oranges framing the scenery. Picked one as a souvenir. Back home through the forest, into the tram. I will be back next time.

The entry to our garden is a filter from the outside world. Wandering through the many trees, one gets lost and forgets the outside just to find himself afterward within the anti-arena. Inside, a combination of paths, over-dimensional hedges, tree aligned squares and meadows create a modern interpretation of a baroque garden. Just as in every baroque garden, our garden too is shaped by views, waters and geometrical axes. But rather than making a big, dominant gesture on the existing terrain, we integrate the existing infrastructure and planting into our design. To do so, we made a catalogue of both, the baroque garden and the Schiessanlage, to collect further knowledge and therefore to be able to determine its similarities and differences.

The already existing over-dimensional hedges are the framework of our layout. We determined three bigger rooms in our garden. Each is divided again into smaller rooms which consist of squares aligned with trees. Within the squares, the main focus lies on the sports happening inside them. Therefore, major views are not a priority here. In between those rooms, however, flower meadows allow the visitor to catch views on other parts of the garden that are yet to be discovered. But the visitor’s eye always stays within our garden. Only at the Belvedere at the very top, a view across the whole garden and over the city is possible.