Zürich-West: Prime Tower, Im Viadukt, Frau Gerolds Garten & Schiffbau

Stretching across Kreis 5 (Industriequartier) between the railway tracks leading west from Zürich Hauptbahnhof and the south bank of the Limmat, Zürich-West is the city's primary post-industrial regeneration district. Once the nineteenth-century manufacturing hub of turbine and locomotive builders such as Escher Wyss and gear maker Maag, the quarter has been systematically converted since the 1990s into a neighbourhood of contemporary architecture, theatre stages, art galleries, and food markets. Today it offers a sharp visual contrast to the medieval Altstadt just a couple of S-Bahn stops away.

Im Viadukt and the Markthalle

The eastern gateway to Zürich-West is the Aussersihler Viadukt, a nineteenth-century stone railway viaduct built in 1894 to carry train lines across the valley toward the Limmat. Between 2008 and 2010, the brick and stone arches beneath the active railway tracks were converted into Im Viadukt, a pedestrian promenade of design boutiques, neighbourhood studios, cafés, and an indoor food market hall (Markthalle) selling regional Swiss cheeses, artisanal baked goods, cured meats, and seasonal produce.

A sheltered footpath and cycleway runs alongside the masonry arches from Josefwiese park north to the Letten river bathing channel, making the viaduct an easy walking spine through the eastern half of the district. Local makers sell sustainably produced clothing, bags crafted from recycled truck tarpaulins, and Swiss home design inside the vaulted brick bays while commuter trains rumble overhead. On sunny afternoons, families and office workers gather on the wide lawns of Josefwiese beside the arches to play petanque or drink espresso from outdoor kiosks.

Frau Gerolds Garten and Hardbrücke

Immediately adjacent to the southern end of the viaduct and Hardbrücke railway station lies Frau Gerolds Garten, a popular urban garden courtyard built from stacked shipping containers, wooden sun decks, string lights, and seasonal kitchen gardens. In summer, open-air bars and food stalls serve drinks beside vegetable beds, herbs, and independent design shops, while in winter a cosy wooden pavilion serves Swiss cheese fondue beneath heated canopies.

Next door, cultural spaces, climbing walls, and street-art murals animate the underpasses beneath the Hardbrücke road and rail viaduct, linking the container garden directly to the commuter train platforms, tram stops, and the nearby Freitag flagship tower built from stacked freight containers.

Prime Tower on the Maag Site

Next to Hardbrücke station on the former Maag-Zahnräder factory site stands the Prime Tower, designed by Zurich architects Gigon/Guyer in collaboration with engineer Joseph Schwartz. Built between November 2008 and December 2011 at a cost of CHF 355 million, the green-blue glass skyscraper rises 126 metres (413 feet) across 36 floors (39,500 square metres of floor space), flanked by the companion buildings Cubus and Diagonal. It was the tallest building in Switzerland from 2011 until Basel's 178-metre Roche Tower opened in 2015, and remains the tallest building in Zurich. On the 35th floor, the Clouds restaurant, bar, and bistro look out over the railway corridor, the old town spires, and the Uetliberg ridge. Riding the lift up for a late-afternoon coffee or evening aperitif gives visitors a bird's-eye view of how the dense railway tracks and river channels cut through the western valley.

Schiffbau, Puls 5, and Cultural Reuse

A short walk north toward Escher-Wyss-Platz brings you to the Schiffbau, an 1892 brick shipbuilding hall where Escher Wyss once assembled steamships for Lake Zurich. Converted between 1996 and 2000 by architects Ortner & Ortner, the hall now houses performance stages of the Schauspielhaus Zürich, the jazz club Moods, and the glass-roofed restaurant LaSalle, preserving overhead industrial cranes and riveted steel beams inside a modern cultural venue.

Across Turbinenplatz (laid out in 2002 to 2003), the 1893 foundry hall of Puls 5 (rebuilt 2001 to 2004), Technopark (1989 to 1993), the contemporary art galleries of the former Löwenbräuareal brewery (expanded 2009 to 2013, housing Kunsthalle Zürich and the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art), and the Toni-Areal former dairy campus of the Zurich University of the Arts (2009 to 2012, home to the Museum für Gestaltung design collection) complete the district walking loop. Along the northern boundary of Kreis 5, the wooden riverside decks of Oberer Letten and Unterer Letten attract swimmers and sunbathers along the Limmat channel throughout the summer. Just southeast across the main railway tracks, neighbouring Langstrasse in District 4 hosts late-night multicultural bars, international kitchens, and the biennial Langstrassenfest street festival. Reaching Zürich-West from the historic centre takes just a couple of minutes by S-Bahn train from Zürich HB to Hardbrücke, or a direct ride on VBZ tram routes serving Escher-Wyss-Platz and Toni-Areal. Spending a late afternoon walking from the Letten river channel down through the viaduct arches to the Prime Tower and Schiffbau reveals how thoughtful urban planning turned redundant heavy industry into one of the liveliest creative quarters in Switzerland. Many visitors time their walk here for Thursday or Friday afternoon, when the design studios beneath the arches, the gallery spaces at Löwenbräuareal, and the open-air courtyard tables at Frau Gerolds Garten transition smoothly from daytime browsing into evening concerts and theatre performances.

What makes Zürich-West especially rewarding for walkers is the way historic industrial masonry has been kept intact alongside bold contemporary structures. Beneath the railway viaduct, nineteenth-century stone piers frame modern glass shopfronts; inside the Schiffbau and Puls 5, overhead factory cranes and cast-iron columns shelter theatre foyers, restaurants, and bakeries; and around Hardbrücke, shipping-container gardens sit right across from the glass facets of the Prime Tower. Exploring these streets on foot shows how Kreis 5 has evolved from a closed manufacturing zone into an open, lived-in neighbourhood of parks, studios, riverside swimming decks, and cultural stages.

Because the entire quarter between the Aussersihler Viadukt, Hardbrücke station, and Escher-Wyss-Platz is flat and well signposted for pedestrians, you can easily explore the market hall, container garden, and converted shipyard halls in a single unhurried afternoon or evening stroll. Independent galleries inside the former brewery complex and design exhibitions at the university campus add daytime cultural stops before the theatres, jazz clubs, and rooftop lounges open for the night. Few districts illustrate modern Swiss architecture and adaptive reuse as clearly as Kreis 5, where historic brick industrial halls and contemporary glass towers stand side by side.