The Circle: Gateway to the World, Window to the Future

Rumbling on the construction site. From a bird's eye view, the crowd of workers looks countless. Energetic hands are at work on all possible fronts, machinery and materials are at the ready, huge cranes tower high at Zurich Airport - here, at Switzerland's largest national airport, something big is being built. Here comes into being The Circle.

The two developers, Flughafen Zürich AG and Swiss Life AG, focused on the needs of the future when developing the project: The innovative concept of The Circle emerged from various social changes and aims to summarize the current pulse of society in one place: Working, Lingering, Consuming. A combination of these areas of interest is intended to awaken synergies and offer new experiences.

The new destination for Zurich

Zurich Airport is both an international hub and the center of Switzerland. Architect Riken Yamamoto's vision for The Circle is a circulation and coming together of people, lifestyles, modernity and visions of the future. The Circle is intended to be a meeting place for the local population as well as guests from all over the world, to invite them to stroll around and to make stopovers as interesting as possible. This vision is clearly evident in the architecture. Says Yamamoto, "I don't actually create buildings - I create spaces between buildings." That's why the architect and his team decided not to build a single building on the site for The Circle, but to create an environment inspired by Zurich's Niederdorf and reminiscent of the look and feel of a Japanese city center. From the outside, The Circle conveys a unified appearance that references the airport's overarching forms. Inside, however, Yamamoto has turned the one building into six different ones and broken up this arrangement toward the park. In this way, the architect has created a new space of just over 30,000 m² footprint to create an inner-city atmosphere.

Analogous to the urban feel, supposedly contradictory elements will also harmonize in The Circle. Business will be combined with lifestyle, culture with entertainment, hotels with congresses, and education with medicine.

Innovative mix of uses directly at the country's largest airport

In The Circle companies that position themselves with an eye to the future come together. Overall, the new destination for Zurich offers an innovative mix of uses that creates synergies among themselves - and thus a unique overall atmosphere: In addition to attractive office space, different brand worlds and gastronomy units, the world-famous Hyatt hotel group will bring two new brands to Zurich and operate the Hyatt Regency Zurich Airport The Circle, the Hyatt Place Zurich Airport The Circle and The Circle Convention Centre Zurich Airport. In addition, there will be a medical center of excellence for Zurich University Hospital, as well as arts, culture and education.

Hotels & Convention in a unique location

The two hotels, Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Place Zurich Airport The Circle, will appeal to different segments and customer needs through differentiated offerings. The premium Hyatt Regency brand offers the full range of upscale hospitality, including exquisite culinary delights, state-of-the-art technology, space for work or relaxation, and professional event planners who take care of every detail. The interior design of the 255-room hotel, including a Presidential Suite with its own terrace, is all about "Swissness." For example, Swiss nature will be subtly reflected in numerous materials,

Hyatt Place belongs to the "midscale" category and offers thoughtful, intuitive design, comfort and straightforward service. The design of the 299 rooms was inspired by the hometown. Blue and white are the supporting colors. Zurich's guilds were also integrated into the hotel design.

The The Circle Convention Centre Zurich Airport is also managed by the Hyatt Group and, with over 3,000 m² Meeting and event space, including the Convention Hall for up to 1,500 people and an additional 15 meeting and event rooms. Uniquely situated in the adjacent park, guests experience over 80,000 m² Green space that invites you to linger and breathe.

Opportunities from increasing digitization

The result will be a modern and intelligent urban environment where physical and digital dimensions merge into one. The Circle will become an urban center that offers guests, tenants and employees maximum quality, comfort and efficiency as well as a unique, personalized digital experience. The goal is to offer a high quality of stay: People should be able to turn their attention to the relevant things, the technology is there to support. This vision is to be turned into reality through the use of innovative cloud and Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies that connect buildings, services and people. For example, it should be possible to use predicted visitor flows and weather data to optimize a restaurant's menu planning and staff deployment in order to reduce food waste and guest waiting times.

However, the aim is not only to further enhance the attractiveness of the new destination and Zurich Airport with innovative digital services. The long-term goal with The Circle is to create a lively, self-dynamic ecosystem that can provide important impetus for Switzerland as a center of innovation.

New standards in sustainability

Anything that wants to endure for the future must nowadays also be respectable in terms of sustainability. The Circle sets new standards in this area as well: The supply of heat and cold is provided by the earth as a reservoir, and the demand for energy and water is greatly reduced through recovery. In addition, the roof of the building area is equipped with a photovoltaic system and thus used for renewable energy production. The Circle will be certified to the highest standard Leed Platinum and will be the largest building ever certified in Switzerland to receive Minergie certification.

The various modules will be interlinked, offering flexibly coordinated content - and all this in a special overall atmosphere. The atmosphere of departure of the airport with the idyll of squares, alleys and 80,000 m² Green space unite the currents of contemporary history. The Circle: A platform that evolves lively and flexibly with individual ideas, mapping and shaping new trends. The largest high-rise project in Switzerland, which the two developers - Zurich Airport and Swiss Life - are realizing together, will be a destination that meets all demands for entertainment and recreation, but right on the pulse of time at the best location in Switzerland.