The MuDA is situated in the ground floor of the Herdern Hochhaus, one of Switzerland’s first high-rise completed in 1964, a historically protected building.
In 1959, the Migros Cooperative, Switzerland’s largest food retailer, bought about 50,000 m² of land in Zurich on which was erected, just two years later, one of Switzerland’s first high-rise building, the Herdern Hochhaus. The purpose of the 58-meter tall building was to provide logistics, distribution and storage space for their food delivery chain, including a ripening hall for all the bananas that were dispatched from there to all corners of Switzerland.
Classified as a listed monument in 2012 due to its industrial historical importance, parts of the premises were left empty after an internal reorganisation and have since then been reconverted for cultural activities. The former industrial zone of Zurich-West in which the MuDA is located is the city’s fastest developing district, and the host to a dynamic and growing creative and tech industry.
