engineering

Schanzengraben

Schanzengraben is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Schanzengraben rather than just read about it. In short: Schanzengraben is a moat and a section of the northwestern extension of the Seeuferanlage promenades that were built between 1881 and 1887 in Zurich, Switzerland. Schanzengraben is, among the adjoint Katz bastion at the Old Botanical Garden and the so-called Bauschänzli bulwark, one of the last remains of the Baroque fortifications of Zürich.

Key takeaways

Schanzengraben belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Schanzengraben to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Schanzengraben from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Schanzengraben is a moat and a section of the northwestern extension of the Seeuferanlage promenades that were built between 1881 and 1887 in Zurich, Switzerland. Schanzengraben is, among the adjoint Katz bastion at the Old Botanical Garden and the so-called Bauschänzli bulwark, one of the last remains of the Baroque fortifications of Zürich. The area of the moat is also an inner-city recreation area and a public park.

Geography Schanzengraben is one of the two present effluences of the Lake Zurich, located around 250 metres (820 ft) south of the Limmat, and situated at the historical Alpenquai lake shore area, between Bürkliplatz and General-Guisan-Quai. It marks the border of the inner-city districts of Enge and City, and flows after about 1,150 metres (3,773 ft) into the Sihl, at the western side of Zürich Hauptbahnhof where Gessnerallee and Usteristrasse cross the Gessner bridge. In fact, the moat was built outside of the historical core of the medieval town of Zürich, previously the Celtic-Roman Turicum, an area being then called Aussersihl, meaning that it was outside of the Baroque town wall at the Sihl river delta.

Points of interests The lake shore area also serves as a marina associated to the Hafen Enge. A narrow alley was partially built at the level of the moat, but also crosses underneath the General-Guisan-Quai and four road bridges, namely Börsenstrasse, Stockerstrasse, Pelikanstrasse and Sihlstrasse, as well as four pedestrian bridges. In addition to the so-called Seeuferanlage and its neighboring General-Guisan-Quai, there is nearby the Arboretum and the Voliere Zürich, Other attractions include the historical Enge quarter, but mainly the Old Botanical Garden and its arboretum. There is also a unique public bath just for men (Männerbad) that also serves as an event restaurant. That section of the moat is also used as a ground for canoeing and a 'water stadion' for canoe waterball. Probably the most natural part is situated nearby the mouth into the Sihl, where also some waterbirds and even fish found an inner-city refugium.

As of December 2015, an association asked for a concession on an issue of water rights concession and a water protection legal permit for the installation of a water wheel purpose of power generation in the Schanzengraben moat. According to the application, at the weir near the indoor aquatic centre City estimated 3,000 liters/second drop a height of 75 centimetres (30 in) and could supply electricity for about 20 households.

History

The moat system of medieval Zurich, consisting of the internal (i.e. inside the town wall) Fröschengraben, the outer Sihlgraben and the intermediate town wall was first mentioned in 1258 AD as niuwer graben (new moat), and in 1293 as graben ze Woloshofen Türlin, probably meaning the moat at the Wollishofen gate. The present Schanzengraben was still in construction around 1300. On the wall gardens, probably the area between Fröschengraben, Sihlgraben and Schanzengraben, a house is mentioned in 1346, and in 1537 the area of the outer trench was named Sprachhüsli, meaning a public toilet. Over the decades, the time accumulating sludge was periodically dug out by day laborers or in forced labor to process. The excavation was used to fertilize the fields of the Oetenbach nunnery. Due to its former military defensive use, the moat has a widely octagonal zig-zag form, and was completed as part of the Baroque fortifications of Zurich around 1642 AD. Being once the moat outside the town wall, the bulwark "Zur Katz" was the former easterly gunnery bastion of the city fortification. In 1830 the moat was redesigned as the second effluence of Lake Zurich, then redirected to the Sihl, and therefore it 'survived' the demolition of the Baroque fortification system. Männerbad Schanzengraben was built in 1864, as a logical 'counterpart' to the Frauenbad at the Stadthausquai, being the historical men's bath. During the industrialization, on the node's banks settled various factories, and so Schanzengraben degenerated over time to an unattractive factory channel. The water tower, a local landmark, was built in 1724, and still exists in its original construction. First discussed in 1952, the reconstruction of the moat in a pedestrian promenade was not done until 1975, however, the construction works ended in 1984.

Cultural Heritage The Schanzengraben moat is listed in the inventory of estimable gardens and grounds of local importance. It also is listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as an object of regional relevance.

See also Bürkliplatz Old Botanical Garden, Zürich Quaianlagen

References

Literature Dölf Wild: Stadtmauern. Ein neues Bild der Stadtbefestigungen Zürichs (= Stadtgeschichte und Städtebau in Zürich. Schriften zu Archäologie, Denkmalpflege und Stadtplanung. 5). Schrift zur Ausstellung im Haus zum Haus zum Rech, Zürich, 6. Februar bis 30. April 2004. Amt für Städtebau, Baugeschichtliches Archiv, Zürich 2004, ISBN 3-905384-05-1. Christine Barraud Wiener and Peter Jezler: Die Stadt Zürich I. Stadt vor der Mauer, mittelalterliche Befestigung und Limmatraum. In: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Zürich, Wiese Verlag, Basel 1999, ISBN 978-3-9061-3171-9.

External links

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Schanzengraben

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Schanzengraben claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Schanzengraben before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Schanzengraben ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Schanzengraben

In research: Schanzengraben appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Schanzengraben in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Schanzengraben is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century architecture in Switzerland, Altstadt (Zurich), Buildings and structures completed in 1642, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Schanzengraben outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Schanzengraben in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Schanzengraben means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Schanzengraben out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Schanzengraben in simple terms?

Why does Schanzengraben matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Schanzengraben?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Schanzengraben.