MFO Park: A "Park House" Filled with Vines

The MFO public park in the Oerlikon Machine Works office complex in Zurich, Switzerland, has been reconstructed by the architectural studio Burckhardt + Partner in collaboration with landscape architect Raderschallpartner. This project is an effort to revitalize a public park where during the industrialization period, the entire land was filled with construction debris, and the rest of the material caused pollution around the area.

Now, the two architects have created a new order in the cityscape in the form of a green park that better responds to the environment while providing public space for the surrounding community.

MFO Park, Zurich, Switzerland

From the outside, this garden is like a giant block-shaped building measuring 100 x 35 x 17 meters with the green color of the plants that envelop it. This massive "Garden House" uses a double-walled construction with an ancient trellis exposed on three sides at once as a medium for vines.

Double Wall Construction of Steel Trellis

Vegetation is an essential element in this MFO Park, especially vines. Burckhardt + Partner and Raderschallpartner grow such vines by various methods; directly on the ground, upstairs, roof, and through irrigation. Some plant species planted in this garden are wisteria, grapevine, ampelopsis, Parthenocissus, honeysuckle, Actinidia arguta, Clematis maximowicziana, and Aristolochia durior. For its irrigation, the team of architects organized an irrigation system by programming rainwater collected and flowed to the roots of plants. Over time, the plant will propagate and fill the steel frame with a dense green color.

So, over time the plant will form a wall following the pattern of the garden skeleton as a medium of propagation. The wall of the plant also serves as a separator between the area inside the garden and the surrounding buildings or infrastructure. While the espalier is made of interlocking stainless steel wire erected around the "wall" and "roof." Therefore, visitors inside the MFO Park area will feel like they are in a building.

Green Area of Plants in MFO Park

Closer Look of the Plants in MFO Park

Thanks to its design arrangement that not only displays beams with an exoskeleton, MFO Park also accommodates visitor activities inside by providing stairs and a road as access to get around. Visitors who climb to the very top through the stairs between the double walls will find a space with maximum sunlight.

This space is deliberately designed to be an open space to accommodate sunlight entering through plant gaps and provide for the needs of plants to photosynthesize. In certain seasons, this area will be filled with flowering plants with a gorgeous purple color. Here visitors can sunbathe and enjoy the view of the city.

Directly Sun-Exposed Tops

Visitors Can Sit and Enjoy the View

In the widest part of MFO Park, Burckhardt + Partner and Raderschallpartner designed a green atrium whose floors were made of cast concrete and lined the entire area of this atrium with light clay. This atrium can be used for various activities such as sports, games, tournaments, open-air cinemas, theaters, concerts, and variety shows. In addition, in the green square area, many chairs are installed that are placed randomly so that they can be used by visitors.

The Atrium of The MFO Park

As the seasons change, the vegetation in this park also follows seasonal conditions. In winter, no "living" greenery leaves tendrils that make garden construction visible. In the fall, the garden will be decorated with plants whose leaves turn red. Meanwhile, in summer, the plant will again look fresh green, and the leaves will be lush.

Layout of MFO Park