Where copper was once processed in Neu-Oerlikon, local residents have been meeting since early 2025 for clothes swaps, table-tennis events and collaborative renovation projects. Labör, a former industrial workshop housing a coppersmith’s and a storage area, serves both as a meeting place and a space for experimentation for sustainability, culture and community. Nothing here is intentionally ever fully finished. The space is created together with the people who use it.
Labör – a meeting place and experimental space
Corinne Widmer
Co-founder of Labör
“Labör is a meeting place, but also an experimental space dedicated to sustainability, culture and community. We want to promote sustainable ways of living.”
From temporary-use project to association
The idea emerged directly from the neighbourhood. In 2023, five people who already knew one another came across a call for proposals for a six-year temporary-use project on the MFO site. They founded an association and successfully applied for the opportunity.
Among them was Corinne Widmer, who had recently completed the CAS in Participatory Urban and Community Development at the ZHAW. Shortly afterwards, the project found its way to her, as she explains in the video for University Day 2025.
Building with what is already there
The renovation is itself part of the project’s mission: materials come from demolished buildings, while the insulation consists of hemp fibres and clay. Previously sealed openings were reopened to bring more natural light into the space, while other areas were insulated to remain warm during the winter. Even during construction, around 15 events took place, several of which attracted more than 40 participants.
What does the ZHAW have to do with this?
The ZHAW contributed in two ways. The methods of social-space analysis and participatory planning that Widmer learned during her CAS are applied in Labör on a daily basis. In addition, the Social Entrepreneurship Lab of the ZHAW School of Social Work supported the funding application to the Zurich Foundation for Social Work. The City of Zurich’s Department of Social Affairs subsequently awarded three years of pilot funding.
Three years to prove the concept
Funding is limited to three years. That is the nature of a pilot project: time to test which formats resonate, which collaborations endure and which business model may actually prove viable. No one in the team knows today what will happen afterwards. This uncertainty is part of the concept: a real-world laboratory thrives on experimentation before the answers are known.
