Sihlcity is a shopping mall in Zurich in the Wiedikon district, built on the grounds of a former paper mill, Papierfabrik Sihl, near the Sihl River. Founded in 1836, production came to a standstill in 1990. New construction and preservation of the site's industrial heritage started in 2003. Inaugurated in the spring of 2007 and stretching over an effective area of approximately 100,000 m2, Sihlcity is one of Switzerland's largest and most advanced shopping and leisure complexes. Planned by architect Theo Hotz and built at a cost of approximately CHF 620 million, the large shopping centre attracts 20,000 visitors a day, offering a broad range of shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, cultural events, a Four Points Hotel, chapel, offices, and living spaces. Four former buildings of the old Sihl paper factory were preserved, and the entire complex is covered in extensive greenroofs. "Four factory buildings were carefully restored: the former Ausrusterei (sheeting and packaging centre), which today offers space for cultural events; then naturally also Sihlcity's distinctive landmark - the 60-metre high chimney at Kalanderplatz, at the heart of Sihlcity; and finally the Kalandergebaude ('calendar building') and the former paper warehouse, both of which were built in the 1950s and have been effectively integrated into the new group of exposed concrete buildings on the northern side of the central square. Together with the chimney and the Ausrusterei, they form a type of pedestal for the new construction volumes, the cantilever extensions of individual buildings even accentuating this pedestal effect. The facades have a layering theme with the effect enhanced by the horizontal concrete bands and glass and metal membranes," (Sihlcity, Architecture). Jakob Rope Systems participated in several facets of this project which represents a landmark from an architectural point of view. The eastern facade of the parking garage, with a capacity of 850 cars, was equipped with a green wall planned by Jakob AG, and the southern facade of the same building was covered with a stainless steel net across a large surface. In addition, Webnet structures were prominently used in the hallways of the shopping center. With a height of 23 meters and a width of 25.5 meters, the green wall of the parking facility at Sihl City represents a category of facade greening projects whose sheer size and resulting loads made it impossible to apply standard solutions. Jakob designed the training systems in cooperation with planners from Raderschall, a Meilen-based landscape architecture firm, and implemented this facade greening task as a subcontractor. The scope of delivery included the planning and supply of the training systems but also their installation on site by experienced Jakob technicians. The relatively wide-meshed training structure, formed by vertical and horizontal ropes of various thicknesses, is suspended at a distance of 70 cm in front of the eight-story high sectional-glass lined eastern facade of the parking facility. This spacing was designed in order to provide sufficient growing space for the plants - in this case mainly Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) and birthworts (Aristolochia sp). After four years, the car park's eastern facade was hidden under a blanket of lush, verdant growth. Especially designed, rugged steel spacers permanently connected to the supporting structure of the building ensure safe anchorage of the ropes. The distribution of the spacers, mounted to the slabs of the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth floors, follows a clear-cut grid pattern that matches the facility's facade design which is characterized by a vertical stripe pattern. The same applies to the vertical ropes of the training structure which optimally matches the graphically strong aspect of the facade.