House of creation

An unusual commercial building will soon be celebrating its first birthday. In the Noerd in Zurich Oerlikon, an exciting group of creatives has opened a new chapter in history. Where previously financial service providers, technology companies and, in the past, armaments companies shaped the spirit of the district, the creative industry with its "nerds" - which can also be translated as freaks with above-average ideas - has now found a new home. The "Gewerbehaus der Kreativen" is the result of an initiative by Remy Fabrikant with his JWT/Fabrikant, the Freitag brothers with their bags and Lukas Meier from the Aroma agency. Over 20 companies have now moved into the Noerd. Last Saturday, they invited visitors to their offices, studios and workshops for an "Open Day". The "Werkschau" was a complete success.

Remy Fabrikant, JWT/Fabrikant

WW: JWT/Fabrikant was already involved in the planning of Noerd. Why did the agency move from the trendy Zurich West area to Oerlikon?
Remy manufacturer: This has more to do with urban development than with trends. District 5 is developing in an extreme way into a center of the city of Zurich. This means that banks, insurance companies and many industrial companies are moving in. This automatically increases prices. Our sector can no longer keep up. As in all large cities, this means that advertising has to move to the outskirts of cities in order to finance its space requirements.

Will Noerd be the new Seefeld?
Because Oerlikon is almost considered a foreign country by some people in Zurich, there is still the opportunity to build on a large scale out here and still at a reasonable price. This naturally makes it interesting for our industry.

How much space does JWT/Fabrikant have?
We have 600 square meters, before I had 1,500, but I deliberately reduced the size and concentrated on the core business of brand management.

What does Remy Fabrikant like about Noerd?
Firstly, the building. This is designed as a space for creatives. Freitag, Aroma and we as initiators definitely said that we didn't want any companies other than creatives in it. We were able to push that through, and I think that's great. It will become a bit of a model.

Do you feel the contact with each other?
It was designed from the outset so that everyone has their own office space. But people should meet each other. We had the restaurant in the Maag Areal. We wanted to revitalize that here with the canteen and the roof garden as a meeting place. This creates a permanent mix. We see each other again and again, and it also works that we exchange ideas with each other.

How is the "Open Day" going?
We had our doubts. Who wants to walk through an office? But we realized that despite the beautiful weather for swimming, there was a huge rush. It was a big guess as to how many sausages we were going to order. We are now pretty much right with 2500.

Lukas Meier, Aroma

WW: Aroma was one of the initiators of the Noerd. What was the motivation?
Lukas Meier: Construction is taking place around our former location at Giesshübel station and we had to find a new home. We also wanted to take advantage of this. Previously, we only had the workshops and the office together and the warehouse externally. The rooms were also too small. Now we've been able to move everything together and have enough space for the joinery, a large CNC machine and a large print shop where we can produce our own displays. We are also in Noerd together with other creative people. That makes for a good exchange.

How big is Aroma under the new roof?
We have our consulting and creation team here. That's around 15 people, plus 15 project managers and site managers and another 30 carpenters, fitters and logisticians. Aroma's USP is that we offer everything from a single source - from the concept and idea to implementation with construction and logistics. We handle an exhibition stand or an event from A to Z.

Does the groove really work with other companies?
That works. Today is certainly an important milestone where we can get to know each other even better. We're having a big party on the roof tonight, where 250 employees from all the companies are coming. On normal days, the canteen is our central element, our microcosm. That's where we see each other. Interview