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The roots of ZHdK

Former locations of the ZHdK

Published on 30.08.2024

  • Campus

Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) has evolved from a number of Zurich institutions steeped in a long tradition: 2007 saw the amalgamation of two existing Zurich institutions, the Zurich University of Music and Theatre (HMT) and Zurich Canton University of Design and Art (HGKZ), to form Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), with its five departments. These institutions and their various disciplines and departments have a proud history dating back to the late nineteenth century. ZHdK is a state university with its own legal personality. Until the end of 2022 it was part of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZFH, since January 2023 it has been institutionally accredited.

  • Organigramm ZHdK Organigramm ZHdK

The Arts and Crafts Museum of Zurich, now the Museum for Design, was established in 1875, followed in 1878 by the establishment of the Arts and Crafts School of Zurich City. This institution later became the Zurich School of Design (Schule für Gestaltung Zürich), then the Zurich Advanced School for Design (Höhere Schule für Gestaltung Zürich), and finally, in 2000, the Zurich Canton University of Design and Art (kantonale Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich, HGKZ).

  • Studio Scientific Visualization at Ausstellungsstrasse 60: Photos: Regula Bearth, 2008
  • Ballett room Tanz Akademie Zurich, Baslerstrasse 30
  • Workshop Szenographie at Baslerstrasse 30
  • Screen printing studio at Herostrasse 5/10
  • Studio Proprädeutikum at Limmatstrasse 45
  • Salon at Florhofgasse 6
  • Mehrspur Music Club at Waldmannstrasse 12
  • Ceramics studio at Herostrasse 5/10
  • Studio Medial Künste at Sihlquai 131
  • Studio Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology, Baslerstrasse 30

Zurich University of Music and Theatre (HMT) originated in 1999 through the amalgamation of the Conservatoria of Winterthur and Zurich, established as institutions of higher musical training in 1873 and 1875, respectively. At the time of the amalgamation, HMT also included the Zurich Jazz School (established in 1977), the Swiss Computer Music Studio (founded 1985), the Theatre Studio (established in 1937), and the subsequent Zurich Drama Academy (Schauspiel Akademie Zürich) and the Swiss Ballet School (Schweizerische Ballettberufsschule) (established in1986).


Media and Information Centre MIZ

The Media and Information Centre MIZ combines ZHdK's library and archives. It was created in 2007 when the libraries and documentation centres of the former Hochschule für Gestaltung HGKZ (University for Design) and the Hochschule Musik und Theater HMT (University of Music and Theatre) merged to form the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (Zurich University of the Arts). It holds around 300,000 media, documents and objects.

As a public specialist library, MIZ offers an extensive archive of analogue and digital media covering all of the university's courses of study.

In the Toni Campus shared by Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and the Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (Zurich University of Applied Sciences), the Media and Information centre MIZ and the ZHAW Hochschulbibliothek Zürich (Zurich University Library ZHAW) form the central location for media, learning and research as the "Bibliotheken und Archive" ("libraries and archives").

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