The next project receives the second prize for its bold, visionary and ecological infrastructural project. It's tackling the urgent need to phase out nuclear energy, by proposing a sustainable powerplant covering the Spreitenbach Marshallingyard, as big as 170 Football fields.

 

Based on detailed analytical researches, it defined clear problematics to solve such as enhancing SBB-cargo efficiency, reducing noise emissions, using polluted water, and collecting rainwater.

The proposal is composed of one Solar power-plant using parabolic mirrors generation to process heat and one Biogas power-plant with biomass coming from algae’s being cultivated in photobioreactors, for electricity and process heat.  It also integrates a train station, a visitor center and a retention basin.

 

The project succeeds to solve a highly complex brief with a smart, modular and efficient structure, making sure the use of material is reduced to its minimal necessary. The high level of technical solution makes the proposal feasible and thus even more relevant.

 

In short, the proposal is an urban mega-infrastructure, with a filigree elegant steel structure.

This is a large-scale project, both in terms of its surface area and in terms of its challenges. The result lives up to its ambitions and allow us all to dream and believe of a better future.

 

Thank you and congratulation Timo Bauer, for your master which you completed at ETH Zurich under the supervision of Prof Alexandre Theriot and the advice of Prof Silke Langenberg.

Noélie Ernst-Sénéclauze | 03.09.2024

The Limmat Valley is seen as the infrastructural backbone of Zurich. The rapidly growing settlement area is increasingly coming into conflict with the infrastructure and logistics required for growth, as well as with agriculture. The clear separation of different functions and zones is being questioned. Hybrid programmes can be used to generate a higher density of use and create synergies between the programmes.

With the phasing out of nuclear energy and the decarbonisation of the heat supply for households and industry, the question arises as to where the necessary renewable energy will come from. The existing 170 football pitches large area of the marshalling yard in Spreitenbach’s agricultural belt is seen as an energy potential area. The aim is to introduce renewable energy infrastructures in urban areas on existing infrastructural sites. This allows the project to overlap different uses; transport, logistics, energy generation as well as a future scenario slowly transforming the space into a more (techno-) natural habitat for human and nature. Access and the use of the productive landscape becomes possible for the citizens, offering a completely new type of space to Spreitenbach and the surrounding.

As part of this intervention, the existing marshalling yard will be expanded to include a solar and biogas power plant. Parabolic mirrors concentrate the direct solar radiation on a single point, generating process heat for the nearby industry and supporting its decarbonisation. The exposed location of the railway tracks also allows algae to be cultivated in photobioreactors, which quickly produce large quantities of biomass. This biomass can be converted into biogas in a biogas plant and then into electricity and process heat. A conflict with the conventional agriculture in Spreitenbach for food production is ruled out.

The roof structure with a basic module of 19.00 x 30.00m follows the logic of the tracks of the marshalling yard, a logic that can be found in all Swiss marshalling yards. The designed module can therefore also be applied to the four other marshalling yards in Switzerland. The urban form of the structure is strongly characterised by this logic. Structures penetrate the roof at certain points and form distinctive high points.

The amount of material required for the construction is reduced to a minimum. The repetitive modular steel construction is supplemented with a simple and inexpensive and common plastic glass, known from greenhouses. The design is based on the structural simplicity and optimisation of greenhouses and the repetitive infrastructure components of the SBB. An automatic cleaning robot, also known from greenhouses, allows regular cleaning of the roof to maximise solar radiation.

The section is characterised by the layering of the programmes. Interesting spatial relationships are created vertically, from the track field to the sky, by omitting floors.

The newly inserted structure increases the utilisation density of the currently underused marshalling yard and creates operational synergies. The noise of the marshalling process will be reduced by the new structure. Rainwater contaminated with heavy metals can be used directly as a nutrient for algae, eliminating the need for wastewater treatment. In addition, workers on the tracks are protected from extreme weather conditions.

A public path and maintenance network within the structure creates a new connection from Spreitenbach to Dietikon across the track field. The planned Dietikon „Silbern“ railway station by SBB can be integrated directly into the structure. The processes of the marshalling yard and the power station are made accessible to the public in a spatially interesting way.

If the marshalling yard is redimensioned, there is the possibility of transforming parts of the site into a landscape park, characterised by microclimate-specific vegetation and the uncovering of the piped village stream. The site could also serve as the venue for a recurring music festival, which would take place against an impressive backdrop of rising gas storage balloons, glowing green algae reactors and freight wagons that appear to be rolling on their own.

The aim of the project was to rethink the architectural and spatial potential of infrastructures and to reinterpret the Limmattal marshalling yard with its current monofunctionality.