Uetlihof 1 – Zurich
The Uetlihof building in Zurich is the nerve center of Credit Suisse AG. Tucked away from public view, some 5,500 employees provide technical infrastructure and back-office advisory services in support of the bank's global operations. With its award-winning landscape design – set against a tongue of woodland running down from the Uetliberg mountain and with planted courtyards slotted into its 36-cell honeycomb structure – the building, inaugurated in 1979, is very much rooted in the ecology movement that sprang from the 1970s oil crisis.
This architectural stance also informed the brief for the 2009/10 project to adapt the Uetlihof building in line with changed operational requirements, including a new client area, outside the security zone, in which to receive business partners.
