37% of Switzerland is exclusively reserved for agriculture. This condition is maintained with massive government subsidies. In the meantime, small bits of agricultural land all over the country are rezoned and get spoiled by piecemeal suburban development. We propose an alternative to the strict segregation of agriculture and urban development: The farmer is no longer subsidized. Instead, he gets paid for taking care of the open spaces between buildings, spaces that are still used agriculturally in an extensive way. Agriculture is not seen as competing with the living environment but as adding extra value to it. To maintain the beautiful, open landscape with its views we have designed compact, tower-like buildings on minimal footprints.

The landscape retains its openness even though it is used for housing

Agricultural policy seen as a problem of spatial planning