Sunset Over Hollywood

In Zurich, one of Europe’s wealthiest cities, poverty in old age is a growing, yet rarely discussed issue. Many seniors, particularly those without private savings, are facing financial difficulties. While basic support services like housing, food distribution, and financial aid exist, the social dimensions of aging in poverty often remain unaddressed.

For that we propose a club centre built around three forms of hosting: The public, your own, and exchange. It is a space to maintain social connections and experience care and pleasure through creativity, independence, and self-determination.

To host the public the club runs a bakery and cafe that works with donated ingredients. To host your own, we offer living rooms with varying levels of privacy. These spaces include areas for resting, inviting guests, bathing, and storing belongings.

To host exchange, the site includes trade stations, such as a library, a toolbox, and a clothing rack - encouraging exchange between the club and the neighborhood.

A large roof unifies the spaces, forming covered public areas for gatherings, weekend markets, and events. Through the use of different construction methods, the space underneath can adapt and evolve over time to meet changing needs.

By participating independently, contributing to the community, and feeling at home in an extended domestic living space, our project includes care and pleasure into the existing network against poverty in old age.

Project by: Luiz Silva, Matilda Fellmann, Nadja Hophan, Rosanna Schönbronn

Teaching team: Anna Puigjaner, Dafni Retzepi, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Lisa Maillard, Luis Úrculo, Pol Esteve Castelló, He Shen

Design Studio: Spring 2025

Photos and Videos taken by Luis Úrculo