Words and photos by Nicolas Buechi
It all started in 2008 at the former soccer stadium Hardturm. There were some Jersey barriers near the main road and that was our first concrete action. We had absolutely no clue what to do, but it was fun, and the first DIY spot of Zurich was born.
Even though this barrier spot was sketchy and not very well constructed, we saw the opportunities it gave us. If we wanted some transition spots in the city, we had to build them by ourselves. We could wait another 20 years for the city to build a park for us, or we could start just now.
In 2010 we built Sihlside. We started at night with a two meter wide quarter pipe. Since we had no permission for the spot, the first few steps were always done at night at risk of get caught. After the quarter, we did a china bank, a speed wobble, and then finally a complete corner with a hip. This was kind of our official bowl building internship, thanks to it, we could eliminate the worst failures and start doing something more stable and increase the quality. We realized that with enough effort and enough helping hands, it would be possible for us to build something bigger. We had to build something bigger.
Our goal was never to build a bowl for society. We needed a bowl for ourselves because there is nothing in Zurich. We knew that it would be expensive, exhaustive and would take half of our summer, and this made us happy.
After two years of looking for a decent place, we had the luck of building legally. Again at the former soccer stadium. We went back to our roots. A concrete company was willing to give us 20 cubic meter of concrete for free, and that was the green light for us. We were ready to start.
After a tour through Slovenia, Croatia and Italy, we had a plan. We knew what tools to organize and that we needed an excavator. The boss of a friend who owns a construction company thought digging a “swimming pool” for us would be fun. We had the hole dug in one day. At that moment, we knew there was no turning back.
In the following weeks, more and more people came to help, from old skaters above 30 to the young street kids. Everyone worked like hell for the bowl.
We finished on September 3rd 2011. Thanks to a very warm fall, we were skating till mid November. Tons of good sessions went down.
This winter we started to build an indoor pool in a squat called “the beauty”. This little pool is going to be the perfect winter residence for us. At the moment a quarter and a wallride are finished.
In the meantime, I see more and more DIY projects rising all over Europe. More and more people are realizing that skateboarders have to build there own parks!
Nothing is better than a session in a bowl you built yourself!
Start pouring!
