"SHADES OF MILK"
AREAL EMMI BUTTERZENTRALE, LUcERNe

Client: Emmi Butterzentrale AG
Submission deadline: January 2010
Selection mode: Study work
Room program: Living and Working
Placement: 1. Place

Project team:
Justin Rüssli
Carol Egger
Giuseppe Di Blatto
Fabiana Brem
Regula Kammermann
Fiona Häusler

Looking for an new location for the future headquarter of the continously growing Emmi, the choice felt on the lands of the former “Butterzentrale ” at the Landsbergstrasse on the left hand shore of Lucerne. Emmi used this area for decades as a production site for milk and dairy products. The operation was ceased at the end of 2007. The buildings were demolished and will be replaced by the headquarters of the leading milk processor of Switzerland together with additional residential uses. In a study for the redesign of the area the project called “Shades of Milk” by the Rüssli Architekten AG prevailed against other well known competing swiss architecture firms.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT
The jury consisting of representatives of the city, prestigious Swiss architects and reprsentatives from Emmi explained: “With the project “Shades of milk” the authors succeeded to create an urban situation, that enables privacy and use of the space together with integration with the neighborhood.”

The urban character and composition of the four buildings and their volume is based on the scale of the existing large-scale neighboring buildings. Therefore the original industrial past of this area will be still recognizable. The entire complex is equivalent to a classic row construction made of the two residential buildings with a generous elongated space, which is framed in the south by the solitary Emmi headquarter and in the north by a combination of service and residential used building.

ARCHITECTURE
According to the chairman of the jury and member of the Executive Board “the project Shades of Milk is outstanding because of its simplicity and a good design of the planned headquarter”. In the three other buildings 100 attractive apartments are planned, some with views to the lake and to Mount Pilatus. In addition, loft-like studio apartments for the combination of living and working as well as other commercial areas are planned. The jury report further stated: “The Emmi headquarter is representatively situated as a head-end building. The square base area of the building with its four floors (3.5m measured in light), interacts with the spiral-shaped two-floored communication area very open and is flooded with light. The selected support column grids and the arrangement of the verical connections allow extremely flexible possibilities of utilization. The exterior appearance is among the clear square shaped basic form also charcterized by a well proportioned grid like facade which is prefixed to a all-glass facade.”

Both row constructions are very different in quality due to their location and situation. There are the more earth-related apartments in the western line and the more sky-related apartments in the eastern line.

The entrance for pedestrians as well as the delivery of the three buildings is planned to be from the Landenberstrasse in the east . The western residential is accessed via the central outdoor space.

The project impressed the decission board mainly by the mature and functional design of Emmi´s headquarter, the very sensitive and consistent design of exterior spaces and the quality of the individual floor plans.