The large, up to sev­en-sto­ry res­i­den­tial and com­mer­cial build­ing in Zurich’s Wiedikon dis­trict is any­thing but ordi­nary. The build­ing is like a small town: com­plete with day­care cen­ter, doctor’s office, bank, art-house cin­e­ma, bars, restau­rant, flower shop, and tram depot. Fur­ther­more, Kalk­bre­ite is a cer­ti­fied »2000 Watt site in oper­a­tion«: Through active sus­tain­abil­i­ty mea­sures, those liv­ing and work­ing there reduce their eco­log­i­cal foot­print. Peo­ple cook and eat togeth­er, work­rooms are shared, an object library makes it pos­si­ble to bor­row equip­ment, and no one has their own car. The result­ing sav­ings are cur­rent­ly around 50% com­pared to aver­age house­hold usage in Zurich. The vision­ary approach of the Kalk­bre­ite will, in the long term, be applied to the entire city in order to con­tribute marked­ly to cli­mate justice.

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