On Friday evening, the big car park at the end of runway 14 at Zurich Airport is the scene of bustling activity. Men (mostly) watch the aeroplanes landing every five minutes, only a few metres away and separated from the onlookers only by a barbed wire fence. Some of these aviation fans are armed with binoculars; others have brought their cameras with them and are listening to the air radio. Nearby, motor cyclists are enjoying the mild evening and inspecting one another's machines. People are walking their dogs; and horseback riders, inline skaters, cyclists and hikers saunter along. Plastic chairs and tables as well as standing bar tables with integrated sunshades invite passers-by to linger. The „gelateria“ is still closed, but the kiosk, which offers veritable meals and consists of a converted caravan with a porch, is open and busy serving numerous customers. This car park is undoubtedly a popular place. And, like many popular places, the architecture plays a secondary part, shrunken to the role of infrastructure that furnishes the place and ensures that it does not deteriorate into a non-place in the crowd: next to the two kiosks is a WC cabin and the obligatory litter bins, containers and a Robidog, a bicycle stand and a few permanently fixed benches. Most of the popular places included in this issue of werk, bauen + wohnen are characterised by the presence of many people. The antipode - the intimate, favourite place of each individual, which can be anything from a bath tub to an esoterically inclined „energy place“ - is only briefly mentioned in the form of a somewhat droll Japanese tea house. Popular places are not necessarily beloved places. With the most public of them, for example the destinations of mass tourism, the „having been there“ is at least as important as the actual experience of the place. Their attraction is based not only on what they themselves are, i.e. for what they became popular, but on what they have become through the never-ending stream of visitors. The usurpation of a popular place as a platform for self-staging and as an observation post - for example, a landing or a strategically placed bench - is one of the most popular activities in a popular place. There are probably social, cultural and, last but not least, architectural reasons that influence and partially explain the magnetic effect of a place and its decrease or increase over the years and centuries. At the end of the day, however, its magic remains unfathomable. Popular places are just as real as places of longing. Having arrived there, the visitor is secure in timeless space. What counts is the moment: „...the swift moment I entreat: tarry a while, you are so fair...“

The editors

Editorial
- Beliebte Orte | Lieux prisés | Popular Places

Thema
- Ueli Mäder
Beliebte Orte Ein soziologischer Blick auf angeeignete Räume
- Martin Tschanz, Markus Jakob, Nott Caviezel, Momoyo Kaijima
Kleinbauten Restaurant Schwellenmätteli in Bern, Rolltreppenanlage in Toledo, Aussichtsturm im Zoll Helsinki, Baumhaus in Japan
- Gunda Barth-Scalmani, Kurt Scharr
Vom Entstehen und Wandel beliebter Orte
Der Brenner und die Reiseliteratur
- Walter Zschokke | Sehen und gesehen werden
Der grosse Hof im Wiener Museumsquartier
- Massimo Vitali
Sguardo sul mondo
- Nott Caviezel
Stufe um Stufe, Die Treppe als Ort, Element und Motiv

Forum
Kolumne: Judith Fischer
EFH: Ferienhaus in der Lenzerheide, von Fredi Doetsch
Bauten: Quartierzentrum Aussersihl, Zürich, von EM2N Architekten
Bauten: Pavillon der Verkehrsbetriebe St. Gallen, von Peter
Lüchinger Leserbrief zur Rezension „Wessen Geschichte spiegelt
sich in Chandigarh?“
bauen + rechten
Innenarchitektur: Cube, Erlebnishotel in Tröpolach/Nassfeld
Ausstellung: Expo 2005, Aichi, Japan
Jubiläum: Jürgen Joedicke zum 80. Gebrutstag
Ausstellungen Veranstaltungen Wettbewerbe
Neuerscheinungen

werk-Material
- EM2N Architekten: Quartierzentrum Aussersihl, Zürich
- Peter Lüchinger: Pavillon der Verkehrsbetriebe St. Gallen