I have driven
this machine 7141km.
My name is Freddy Hobi.
I have been an SBB shunter
for 25 years.
I like it here.
Sometimes I come here
when I’m off work.
Escher, the angel & the Fibonacci numbers
A film by Samir
In the beginning
there was nothing.
Just me – the angel.
Today I hover 20m
above the people
and still no one sees me.
They suspended me here
and named me “L’ange protecteur”
or ”The Guardian Angel”.
Zurich had a station
as early as 1847.
Everyone knew
a larger station was needed.
Zurich was a busy intersection.
The town’s need for a central station
brought Escher in contact
with city planning.
It’s a unique situation.
Luckily these town planning ideas
are still effective today!
We have the opportunity
to create something big,
on a grand scale,
something radiant.
Conservation is caught up
in modernisation,
where societal needs
are always changing.
The challenge is
to preserve as much
of the inherited
cultural asset as possible.
Why Niki de Saint Phalle?
The expanse of the structure
called for something to put
its size into perspective.
Previously up for demolition,
now the station
was re‐evaluated and
put under protection.
Old rooms were
rediscovered and restored.
In three weeks we drew up
a development plan
for Zurich station
together with Mr. Vogt.
And then the people voted “yes”
and everyone was shocked.
We had no blueprints,
just a mark on map.
We knew where,
but not which way up,
or down or out.
A station used to be
a kind of cathedral,
that you would enter.
You would by a ticket,
walk in and depart.
Abroad, tickets were checked
on the platform.
Today a station is more
like part of the town.
With new railway lines
create new concerns
in city‐planning.
Its needs to be
fast and efficient;
large numbers of people
need to pass through.
Stations were dying dinosaurs.
It was our job
to re‐awaken the dinosaurs.
Escher, the angel & the Fibonacci numbers
