Freitag Tower

26-metre-tall stack of shipping containers — the flagship store for the Swiss bag designer

The Freitag flagship shop in Zurich-West occupies a striking tower of 17 stacked, brightly-painted shipping containers — designed in 2006 by Spillmann Echsle as a deliberate gesture about reuse and a reference to Freitag's business of turning industrial waste into bags. It stands at the edge of the railway viaduct beside the Im Viadukt retail row, visible from much of Kreis 5.

The lower containers hold the shop itself: every bag is a one-of-a-kind, cut from used Swiss truck tarpaulins, and prices are in the hundreds of francs upward. The top container is a viewing platform — climb the metal stairs through the tower and emerge on the open deck for the best view of Zurich-West's rooftops and the Limmat valley. Free to climb; even non-shoppers do it for the view.

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A story
The Freitag brothers, Markus and Daniel, started cutting up old truck tarpaulins in their Zurich flat in 1993 to make waterproof messenger bags for cyclists. The company is now an internationally recognised design brand and the shipping-container tower it built in 2006 has become a Kreis 5 landmark in its own right.

Other places in Zurich-West (Kreis 5)