Ulrich Konrad Roth

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Ulrich «Ueli» Konrad Roth (born April 18, 1935 in Aarau) is a Swiss architect and planner with a degree in architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA). Roth is one of the early academically trained Swiss urban and regional planners. He taught at various American universities and at the ETH in Zurich from the 1960s to the early 1980s. Over the course of his long career, Roth built on this foundation, producing numerous theoretical writings and research projects, forming a coherent body of regional and urban planning work.

Career and achievements

Ueli Roth studied architecture at the ETH Zurich from 1954 to 1959 under Friedrich Hess, Walter Henne and William Dunkel, among others. He graduated under the supervision of Alfred Roth in 1959. On the latter’s recommendation, Ueli Roth pursued his interest in urban and regional planning at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University (1960/61). At Harvard, he enrolled in the Master's program in Urban Design – recently introduced by José Luis Sert at the time – and became involved with fundamental international discourse on architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and urban planning.

After his Master’s, Roth remained in the USA. He worked in various architectural offices, focusing on questions of spatial design, in the planning of parkways and freeways, on urban renewal and housing developments and on a general neighborhood renewal plan for Nashville, Tennessee. In 1963, Roth moved to Berkeley and – appointed by Charles Moore – taught at the University of California as an assistant professor of Urban Planning (1963-66).

Roth returned to Switzerland in 1966 and founded his own office in Zurich. The year before, he had participated in Basel as a speaker at the largest international planning conference ever held in Switzerland. This event had been initiated by the Regio Basiliensis group founded a few years earlier, a pioneering organization for cross-border regional planning between the Jura, Black Forest and Vosges on the Upper Rhine . From 1967 on, Roth's office was commissioned by the Regio Basiliensis to draw up groundbreaking planning principles for population, settlement, infrastructure, energy, transport, aviation and noise. In 1970, Roth was elected as the first head of the International Coordination Office of the Regio Basiliensis (1970-75) and continued to be affiliated with it after 1975 as a permanent planning and scientific advisor as well as an environmental officer until 1991.

Regional planning, environmental coordination and urban design remained the central themes Roth and his office worked on for many years. From 1967 to 1982, he also lectured at the ETH Zurich, where he established systematized lectures on urban development, urban planning, housing development and – together with Lucius Burckhardt – urban density. Roth was a member of the Association of Swiss Planners (BSP, today the FSU) and was involved in the Zurich Study Group for Building and Transport Issues (ZBV) until 2023, at times as its president.

At the beginning of the energy crisis in the 1970s, Roth and the physicist Theo Ginsburg took on a research project that investigated the interactions between energy supply and urban development on behalf of the German Federal Research Institute for Regional Studies and Planning (1975-80). Roth's office was subsequently commissioned with a number of other major research projects in the overlapping areas of energy, regional planning, urban development, infrastructure and the environment. Parallel to these main topics, Roth's office also developed architectural projects, such as the Stettbach railway station (1982-90), part of the expansion of the Zurich rapid transit system Zurich S-Bahn.

Economic structural changes in the 1980s led to new planning challenges. Numerous former industrial production areas near downtown locations became vacant, but a planning law framework had to be created before they could be converted. In 1988, Roth took on the planning for the conversion of an industrial zone encompassing approximately sixty hectares north of the Oerlikon railway station into a new mixed-use urban quarter (“Zentrum Zürich Nord” plan, 1988-2010, today Neu-Oerlikon) in the midst of heated debates surrounding the revision of Zurich's building and zoning regulations (BZO). In this case, the project was successful thanks to special land-use planning largely independent of the city's BZO revision as well as to a system developed for the project that enabled changes in land ownership for infrastructure such as roads, squares and parks through a balancing of interests and increased land value instead of monetary compensation (betterment levy). The “cooperative planning” of several private landowners with the city and Canton of Zurich, as well as with the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), a process that Roth developed for this project and which subsequently became the standard for comparable projects in Switzerland, was particularly groundbreaking.

From 1989 on, further commissions followed for the transformation of industrial sites into dense urban districts with mixed uses. Roth was able to steer and substantially influence the planning processes for the landowners from the outset. The most significant projects include the development of the main site of Asea Brown Boveri in Baden (“Baden Nord” plan, 1989-99) and the urban renewal project for the industrial site of the former Maag cogwheel factory (“Maag Areal Plus”, 1998-2013). The Maag project is centrally located near the Zurich Hardbrücke railway station and includes what was then the tallest building in Switzerland, the “Prime Tower”.

Personal life

Ueli Roth’s first marriage was to the American Jane A. Working (1962-68), his second to Marianne N. Fröhlich (1970-84). Since 1991, he has been married to Bianca M. Pestalozzi. He has three daughters (born 1964, 1972 and 1974) and one son (born 1992).

Selected projects

• 1967-1991 Studies and planning guidelines for the coordination of the regional development of the German-French-Swiss border region of Basel on behalf of the Regio Basiliensis (1967-71), head of the International Coordination Office (1971-75) and environmental advisor to the Regio Basiliensis (1975-91)
• 1968-1970 Head of the working group of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) general management for the connection to the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg
• 1969-1971 Project planning for a terraced housing development in Balzers, Principality of Liechtenstein
• 1970, 1979, 1980 Competition entries for the Zurich main railway station, together with Walter Schindler (1979: 2nd place)
• 1971-1974 Town center planning Eschen, Principality of Liechtenstein
• 1976-1977 Renovation and conversion of his own residence, “Bünishof”, in Meilen
• 1982-1990 Dübendorf-Stettbach rapid transit (S-Bahn) station near Zürich
• 1986-1987 Project for a hotel resort in Palm Springs, California (not realized)
• 1988-2010 Urban planning project “Zentrum Zürich Nord”, today Neu-Oerlikon district
• 1989-1999 Urban planning project “Baden Nord”
• 1989-1990 Oerlikon railway station: concept studies for medium and long-term development
• 1991 Planning “Felix and Regula” for the Schoeller sites at Zurich-Hardturm
• 1993 Development policy Mühlental for industrial site of Georg Fischer AG in Schaffhausen
• 1996-1997 Urban development planning Lenzburg
• 1998- 2009 Development planning BAG Turgi at the confluence of the Reuss, Limmat and Aare Rivers
• 1998-2013 Urban planning project “Maag Areal Plus” at Zurich West
• 1999-2000 Glatttal light rail: cross-sectional mandate for regional development, population and economic development scenarios
• 2013-2024 Site development paper mill Balsthal

Publications

• “Elemente der Zeitarchitektur, Photo-Studienreise eines jungen Architekten.” Du magazine, vol. 20, no. 237, Nov 1960, pp. 1–47.
• “Louis Kahn und die Medical Towers in Philadelphia.” Werk, vol. 49, no. 1, 1962, pp. 22–25.
• “Amerikanischer Städtebau am Beispiel Philadelphias.” Werk, vol. 49, no. 5, 1962, pp. 149–160.
• “Nashville. Neuplanung einer amerikanischen Hauptstadt.” Werk, vol. 51, no. 4, 1964, pp. 141–146.
• Photographs: “Amerikanische Architektur – heute.” du vol. 24, no. 280, Juni 1964, pp. 16–41.
• “Das San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System.” Werk, vol. 53, no. 5, 1966, pp. 182–190.
• “Planung und Städtebau, Elemente und Systematik der Orts-, Regional- und Landesplanung.” (Lecture notes, ETH Zürich Department of Architecture, 1967–72.)
• “Wurster Hall, College of Environmental Design, Berkeley, California USA.” Werk, vol. 54, no. 1, 1967, pp. 1–23.
• “Verflechtung und Entflechtung.” Werk, vol. 54, no. 10, 1967, pp. 653–658.
• Various articles as well as all photographs and illustrations: “Im Reich der gefiederten Schlange. Kunst und Städtebau im präkolumbianischen Mexiko und Guatemala.” Du magazine, vol. 27, no. 320, Oct 1967: pp. 758–759 (platforms in space), pp. 760–818 (text and plans for individual ruins), pp. 834–837 (travels in Central America).
• “Das englische Gesetz über die Abgaben bei Liegenschafts-Wertvermehrung (‘Betterment Levy’) und entsprechende schweizerische Gesetze und Verordnungen.” Werk, vol. 56, no. 4, 1969, pp. 271–272.
• “Gesichtsfeld in Bewegung.” Werk, vol. 56, no. 9, 1969, pp. 598–604.
• “Amerikanischen Bürgern wird vermehrte Einflussnahme auf Autobahnentscheide gewährt.” Werk, vol. 56, no. 9, 1969, pp. 605–607.
• “Landesplanerische Leitbilder der Schweiz.” Schweizerische Bauzeitung, vol. 89, no. 28, 1971, pp. 712–719.
• “Die internationale Koordination der Planung in der Regio Basiliensis. Entstehung, Ziele, Methoden.” Werk, vol. 59, no. 9, 1972, pp. 497–506.
• “Chronologie der Schweizerischen Landesplanung.” Werk, vol. 59, no. 10, 1972, pp. 604–608.
• “Zentrumsplanung Hergiswil NW.” Werk, vol. 60, no. 3, 1973, pp. 341–342.
• “Bewertung von Lösungsvarianten in Planung und Städtebau.” Schweizerische Bauzeitung, vol. 91, no. 42, 1973, pp. 1029–1032.
• “Siedlungsform, Energieversorgung und Umweltbelastung.” Schweizerische Bauzeitung, vol. 95, no. 49, 1977, pp. 877–884.
• “Energie und Siedlungsplanung.” Bauen + Wohnen, vol. 31, no. 7–8, 1977, pp. 289–93.
• “Siedlungsform, Energieversorgung und Umweltbelastung.” Schweizerische Bauzeitung, vol. 95, no. 49, 1977, pp. 877–884.
• “Chronik der schweizerischen Landesplanung.” Supplement to: Dokumente und Informationen zur Schweizerischen Orts- Regional- und Landesplanung, vol. 56, 1980.
• “Wechselwirkungen zwischen der Siedlungsstruktur und Wärmeversorgungssystemen.” Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt, vol. 99, no. 44, 1981, pp. 970–983.
• “Rationelle Energieverwendung in der Quartier- und Bauplanung. Möglichkeiten zur Reduktion des Heizwärmebedarfs durch Massnahmen zur passiven Nutzung der Sonneneinstrahlung.” Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt, vol. 100, no. 10, 1982, pp. 139–152.
• “Der Wärmeatlas III.” Zeitschrift für Planen, Energie, Kommunalwesen und Umwelttechnik, vol. 39, no. 3, 1982, pp. 21–25.
• “Der Zusammenhang von Energieversorgungskonzepten mit dem Bedarfsnachweis für zusätzlichen Strom.” Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt, vol. 101, no. 33–34, 1983, pp. 816–819.
• “Station Stettbach: Architektur und Kunst an einem Bahnhof.” Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt, vol. 108, no. 48, 1990, pp. 1393–1395.
• “S-Bahn-Station Zürich-Stettbach.” Werk, vol. 78, no. 3, 1991, pp. 68.
• “Von der autogerechten zur menschengerechten Stadt.” Ferrum, vol. 65, 1993, pp. 42–49.
• “Neu-Oerlikon. Ein modernes Planungsmärchen? 1988–2010.”, Zürich, 2010. (Self-publication, printed by the ETH Zurich)
• “Wechselwirkung zwischen Energieversorgung und Besiedelung. Forschungen in den Siebzigerjahren.’’ Collage. Zeitschrift für Raumentwicklung, vol. 4, 1996, pp. 17–18.
• “Zentrum Zürich Nord. Gebietsmanagement bei der Stadterneuerung auf einem alten Industrieareal.” Collage. Zeitschrift für Raumentwicklung, vol. 4, 2002, pp. 12–14.

References

• Jakob, Eric / Regio Basiliensis (editor) and Weber, Martin. Die Regio-Idee, Grenzüberschreitende Zusammenarbeit in der Region Basel. Basel, Christoph Merian Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-85616-585-7.

Weblinks

• Ueli Roth (* 1935). at the gta Archive of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta Archiv des Instituts für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur) of ETH Zurich

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