With a new replacement building for the "Espenhof Nord" housing for the elderly in Zurich-Albisrieden, the Foundation for Retirement Housing of the City of Zurich would like to implement innovative and forward-looking concepts for living in old age and create particularly high urban, exterior and architectural qualities. Due to the different heights of the buildings and the variable excavation depths, there are very different foundation loads that have to be absorbed by the subsoil.

 In addition, the buildings planned in an inner-city area are located in areas of the extremely poorly load-bearing layers of the Uetliberg loam, which are up to 30 m thick. In order to determine the exact excavation and foundation conditions as well as possible subsoil loads, our office has therefore been carrying out detailed subsoil investigations on the site since autumn 2020, consisting of a combination of core drillings, excavator slots and pressure soundings. The investigations form the basis for further project development and provide the necessary information for planning the civil engineering work.