Lift Tierpark Dählhölzli, Bern

The lift connection offers people with limited mobility an alternative to the steep Tierparkweg. The overcoming of the height level between the Aare promenade and the level of the zoo is architecturally interpreted as a "stacked path". The foot point sits at the edge of the square at the forest edge, at a clear distance from the heritage-protected restaurant. The open shaft, made of three Corten steel elements stacked on top of each other, nestles against the forest edge so that it becomes part of the dense deciduous tree backdrop. On the upper level, the walkway leads through the treetops to the zoo. The open structure housing is constructed from steel plates, which act as stiffening when cut into arch segments. Framed over frames, they are vertically inserted into each other in stages. The walkway is designed as a trough made of steel plates. The minimal interventions in the ground and vegetation, together with its materialization and the breaking of the height into scalable segments, make the structure an integrative infrastructure in the protected landscape of the Aare.