Soak up the autumn sun on an Enzo
Provided the weather cooperates, ETH’s new outdoor furniture offers the perfect place to lounge in the sun. A total of 16 “Enzos” have now been installed on ETH’s Zentrum and H?nggerberg campuses.
Weighing 145 kg and measuring just under three metres long, the “Enzos” offer comfortable places for people to sit and study, eat or even take a short nap. Since the beginning of the week, three of these chair-cum-couches have sprung up on the Polyterrasse and three more have appeared in front of the university’s main entrance on R?mistrasse. Further Enzos can be found outside the ETZ building on Gloriastrasse, beside the NO building on Clausiusstrasse and next to the WEV building on Weinbergstrasse. Seven additional Enzos were installed on the H?nggerberg campus several weeks ago.
Thanks to their curved shape with raised ends, these pieces of furniture can be used in a variety of ways – as a chair or couch, as a theatrical stage, as a design feature at special events or simply as a sculpture. They are made of polyethylene and are 100% recyclable. Before the Enzos were installed, each department was given the chance to come up with their own unique designs for the decorative sheets stuck onto them.
One of the Enzos outside ETH Zurich’s main entrance serves as an “info-Enzo”, providing information about the size and weight of these pieces of furniture and a QR code which links to the Enzo website, where the designs by the individual departments are also explained in more detail.
A familiar sight from Vienna
The Enzos are the result of the winning project from the 2013 Ideas Competition run by the Safety, Security, Health and Environment (SSHE) staff unit, the ETH Sustainability coordination office and the Office for Events and Location Development. The furniture idea that won the competition is the brainchild of mechanical engineering student Benedikt Ummen and Justus S?llner, an ETH Zurich chemistry graduate.
Some people may be wondering where they have seen these Enzos before. In fact, they originally come from Vienna, where they were designed by Viennese artist Josef Trattner for the outside space in the city’s MuseumsQuartier.
