MFO Park
Zürich, Switzerland
71,042 sf. Green Façades
(Video)
Greenroofs.com Featured Project February 27, 2026
MFO Park in October, 2010. Image: File:MFO-Park_Oerlikon_2010-10-03_14-26-58_ShiftN.jpg by Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Aramis with a colleague on our MFO Park tour on June 4, 2025. Image: Linda S. Velazquez
I’m standing beside one of the massive flowering trellis support structures at MFO Park in June, 2025. Image: Aramis Velazquez
Aramis and I had the great pleasure last June to visit the awesome MFO Park as part of the equally fantastic and extremely informative the 2-day Excursion the “Best of Switzerland, A Journey to Green Building Highlights” during the World Congress on Green Roofs & Façades Basel 2025. Arranged by the landscape architecture firm Raderschallpartner AG, who designed MFO Park in collaboration with architects Burckhardt + Partner, we were met by landscape architect Markus Fierz who also engaged several of the maintenance people from the City’s Grün Stadt Zürich to answer our questions.
Our tour was led by Dr. Christine Thuring, our esteemed and long time contributor, and she was instrumental in translating German to English. Her ecological perspective was particularly engaging given the high biodiversity factor of this remediated and reclaimed urban space.
Christine Thuring & Markus Fierz at MFO Park, Zurich. Image: Linda S. Velazquez
Planter Detail by Raderschallpartner. Image: Linda S. Velazquez
Steven Cantor from NYC, me, and Julyo Espinoza Hernández from Mexico. Image: Aramis Velazquez
Markus was great, bringing lots of supporting details and patiently explaining the many details of both the plantings and the intricate steel cable design. Our group included other esteemed colleagues of ours, and it was especially good to spend time with Steven Cantor, landscape architect, who has been a much appreciated contributor to Greenroofs.com.
The visit to MFO Park illustrated the green city concept which Zurich has embraced heartily. Its transformation from industrial wasteland to regenerated leafy, open air urban space is to be highly commended.
MFO Park in October 2010. Image: File:MFO-Park_Oerlikon_2010-10-03_14-24-08.JPG, Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Excerpt from the Greenroofs.com Project Profile:
Located in northern Zürich, the multi award winning MFO-Park is a dramatic public park which was once home to the highly polluted extensive works of Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. Designed by the architects Burckhardt + Partner, landscape architects Raderschallpartner, and structural engineers Basler & Hofmann, the site was redeveloped as Neu Oerlikon and opened to the public in July 2002. Substantial cleanup of industrial contamination and soil remediation was necessary resulting in four new parks including MFO Park.
The iconic Parkhaus resulted, a large, 6-story trellis-covered structure with plants climbing its green façade steel frame. Reminiscent of a conservatory without glass, MFO Park is a building without structural walls. Bearing witness to the site’s industrial past, its scaffolding maintains the dimensions of the original building.
MFO Park. Image: Jakob Rope Systems
A fantastic view above MFO Park. Image: Burckhardt Architektur courtesy of Raderschallpartner
With a size of 0.9 ha, the multi-story, multi-functional MFO Park measures 100 meters long (330′), 35 meters wide (115′), and 17 meters high (56′). A custom solution from Jakob Rope Systems was used for the light, delicate steel and wire rope construction which employed 22,800 steel parts.
Perennials, shrubs, and trees are strategically arranged in ground-level beds and elevated planters. The Park House is sumptuously enveloped by climbing vines covering the innovative 3-sided latticework pergola of steel construction. With only deciduous vines used, its structure is revealed in winter and blooms in warmer months.
MFO Park Planting Plan. Image: Raderschallpartner
A total of 1200 climbing plants of 104 varieties of perennial woody vines and creepers were planted at MFO Park’s corridors, loggias, cantilevered balconies, and the four rear wire chalices form a copse within the forest of climbing plants. Each of these vertical plantings is designated to a separate cable. Filled with recycled glass chips, its minimalist sunken lily pond-shaped water basin provides seclusion for reflection.
Sporting green spaces for a myriad of activities, seating amenities, and sunbathing on the roof deck, MFO Park was designed as a zero water discharge site. The vibrant parkscape shimmers throughout the seasons with shades of green, orange, red and yellow and is saturated with scents and blossoms of pinks, blues, creamy whites, lilacs, and orange-reds. At night the structures of the square and atrium are lit up from within.
MFO Park at night. Image: DeCo2912 via Flickr
More
A symbiosis of industry and nature, MFO Park offers a highly successful synthesis between landscape design, architecture, and engineering skill. Offering biodiversity and habitat restoration along with public greenspace and recreation, the contemporary 3-dimensional MFO Park green pavilion functions as a great outdoor room.
Setting a precedent for urban parks around the world, the public architectural oasis and vast biodiverse pergola is nestled at the heart of the dense Zentrum Zürich-Nord neighborhood.
MFO Park. Image: Jakob Rope Systems
MFO Park in June 2025. Image: Linda S. Velazquez
Year: 2002
Owner: Grün Stadt Zürich
Location: Zürich, Switzerland
Building Program: Park
Type: Green Façade
System: Single Source Provider
Test/Research: No
Size: 71,042 sq. ft.
Slope: 45-100%
Access: Accessible
Privacy: Public
MFO’s sunken area with the pond. Image: Linda S. Velazquez
Credits:
Architect:
Roger Nussbaumer, Heinz Moser, Oliver Gilbert, Burckhardt + Partner Architekten AG
Landscape Architect:
Roland Raderschall, Sibylle Aubort Raderschall, Markus Fierz, Raderschall Landschaftsarchitekten AG
Structural Engineers:
Basler + Hofmann AG
Structural Engineering / Steel Construction:
Dr. H. Tschamper, A. Fauchère
Green Façade Support System:
Jakob Rope Systems
Drainage:
Ch. Ritter, Th. Lanker, M. Vedruccio
Irrigation / Sanitary:
P. Häfliger
Electrical Planning:
U. Ress
Furniture Design:
Frédéric Dedelley
Maintenance:
City of Zürich
MFO Park in June 2025. Image: Linda S. Velazquez
See the Project Profile
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MFO Park June 2025. Image: Aramis Velazquez
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Love the Earth, Plant a Roof (or Wall)!
By Linda S. Velazquez, ASLA, LEED AP, GRP
Greenroofs.com Publisher & Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summits Host