Archinect - News

Herzog & de Meuron opens new University Children's Hospital in Zurich

2024-09-30T17:08:00-04:00

Herzog & de Meuron (HdM) has updated their progress on the new 14.69-million-square-foot University Children's Hospital in Zurich after its ten-year journey to completion. The two-building program contains 2,300 rooms and roughly 48 different functional areas alternating between three and seven above-grade stories for each respective Acute Care and Research/Teaching functions.

Image: © Maris Mezulis

There are a total of 200 beds and underground parking spaces for 341 cars in the former, while the larger research building contains a total of 280 permanent or temporary workstations, a bistro, 320-seat lecture theater, two 100-seminar rooms, and combined laboratory spaces equal to almost 92,600 square feet (8,600 square meters).

Image: © Herzog & de Meuron, Foto Michael Schmidt

As the largest-such children’s facility in Switzerland, the project replaces a long-outdated facility with a comprehensive space that combines academic knowledge and guidance with proven holistic methods (e.g. na...

ETH Zurich researchers develop robotic process for impact printing earth materials

2024-09-23T12:32:00-04:00

Researchers at ETH Zurich have introduced a new robotic 3D printing method for cement-free low-carbon materials for a circular economy.

Using a technique called 'impact printing,' the team demonstrated a mixture of excavated materials, silt, and clay that was less dependent on additives for its structural strength due to the high-velocity deposition process. Their aim was to "increase the cost competitiveness of sustainable building materials through efficient and automated production."

Image: Girts Apskalns. Copyright: ETH Zurich - Gramazio Kohler Research, Chair of Sustainable Construction and Robotic Systems Lab

First, a custom printing tool was developed that can be integrated on multiple high-payload robotic platforms. The tool was then integrated with a high-payload Gantry system within the ETH's Robotic Fabrication Laboratory. The hardware is also compatible with an autonomous legged excavator system called HEAP, also developed by the Robotic Systems Lab. It has shown...

This Swiss minimalist home was designed as a 'blank canvas' to reflect its Lake Geneva surroundings

2024-09-13T11:42:00-04:00

Geneva, Switzerland-based firm Leopold Banchini Architects has designed a sleek, minimalist home intended to reflect its alpine and waterside surroundings.

Image: Rory Gardiner

Located beside Lake Geneva, looking out at the Alps, Villa M was likened, by the architects, to the work of Swiss painter Ferdinant Hodler. His paintings often depicted mountains reflected in Swiss lakes.

Image: Rory Gardiner

As a reaction to its landscape, the home was built to stay as simple and humble as possible. Its long, plain façade is described as a blank canvas, which reflects into a water basin of the same length. Here, a singular long window opens onto a floating terrace that is of a similar size.

Image: Rory Gardiner

The building’s long rectangular plan, constrained by building regulations, is spread across three levels. A wooden spiral staircase connects the floors.

Image: Rory Gardiner

The ground floor living spaces mainly open out to the surroundings, whil...

Herzog & de Meuron's mass timber HORTUS project advances in Switzerland

2024-08-27T12:13:00-04:00

The new mass timber HORTUS office project from Herzog & de Meuron is advancing towards completion in Allschwil, Switzerland. Construction will yield 600 workplaces and be fully offset after 31 years in use. The firm says it is “one of the most sustainable office buildings in the German-speaking world.”

China is planning the world’s largest particle collider to rival CERN

2024-06-26T17:18:00-04:00

China’s plan to construct what would be the world’s new largest particle collider, pending major funding hurdles, is becoming more clear after a technical design report was submitted for the estimated $5.2 billion project. The 100-kilometer Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) is meant to rival CERN’s plans for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) in Europe and would require only three years to complete following its potential commencement in 2027.

Scientific American informs us: “Many of the components that are planned for China’s mega machine are already being tested at other facilities in the country [...] Given that China is already home to a collider that is similar to the CEPC — the Beijing Electron Positron Collider — [and] IHEP might now have more expertise in this area than does CERN.”

Herzog & de Meuron's FORUM UZH design moves forward in Zurich

2024-05-16T18:36:00-04:00

Herzog & de Meuron is advancing on the construction of its new FORUM UZH design at the University of Zurich following a permit issuance for the project whose bid was born out of a 2018 international competition.

Preparatory site work will begin in August for the new building, which replaces former gymnasium structures with a facility for research and education at a capacity of 6,000 people. Included in its program are over 700 individual workspaces, a central library, seminar rooms, and sports halls.

This is their first design for the university. The firm also recently broke ground on another academic building project, the new UCSF Health Helen Diller Hospital at the University of San Francisco, a 15-story hybrid healthcare facility and academic medical complex that is expected to be completed in 2030.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Herzog & de Meuron (@herzogdemeuron)

Production begins on the world’s tallest 3D printed structure

2024-02-16T11:40:00-05:00

Production has begun on a 3D printed tower in Switzerland, which is expected to be the tallest structure of its kind in the world. Named the ‘Tor Alva’ or ‘White Tower,’ the project is currently being fabricated at ETH Zurich, where the first eight columns of the tower’s lower floor commenced 3D printing in February.

Image credit: Hansmeyer/Dillenburger

The columns’ fabrication sees a robot extrude the concrete in 8mm-high layered print paths. In a departure from traditional concrete construction, the 3D printing process means formwork is no longer required, freeing new avenues for the team to experiment with shapes, surface details, and cavities. The tower will also be the first instance of printed concrete being used in a fully structural manner, with steel reinforcement inserted during the robotic production process.

Image credit: R. Masallam

The tower will be constructed in the remote Swiss Alps village of Mulegns, where it will host music and theater performances. At 98 feet (nea...

Renzo Piano completes CERN's new Science Gateway project in Geneva

2023-10-13T15:13:00-04:00

Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) has shared photos following the inauguration of its new CERN Science Gateway project in Geneva, Switzerland.

The project for clients at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (or CERN) was realized in collaboration with the local studio Brodbeck Roulet Architectes Associés and offers the agency room for an expanded education and outreach program capable of handling between 300,000 and 500,000 visitors annually.

Image © CERN

The project’s design is inspired by the tubing integral to CERN’s famed Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator and houses two new laboratories, three small exhibition areas, a 900-seat auditorium, shop, and restaurant in a footprint totaling just over 75,000 square feet. A bridge suspended 20 feet above the ground connects the five separate spaces. RPBW says it also establishes a central metaphor as the “link between science and society.”

Image © CERN

More than 400 trees were planted in order ...

Switzerland releases postal stamp honoring concrete architecture

2023-09-01T11:13:00-04:00

Switzerland's postal service Swiss Post has released a new concrete-inspired stamp. The ‘Art in Architecture’ stamp is the third edition of a series launched by the postal service in 2020, which seeks to “reflect Swiss Post’s commitment to art.”

The stamp follows the previous two editions in incorporating their subject’s material in the stamp itself. Made using cement pigments, the latest stamp holds an ultra-matte finish to give the depicted concrete wall a “tactile dimension.”

Image credit: Swiss Post

“This is a material that plays an important role in the history of architecture,” Swiss Post explains. “Concrete helped art, previously seen by most people as decorative, to attain its independence as an art form. As a stamp design, the symbolic concrete wall represents an artistic pillar that characterizes Swiss Post buildings throughout Switzerland.”

The wider project derives from an initiative that began in Switzerland after the Second World War which said that one percent of publi...

A solar-powered media façade that ‘consumes only as much energy as it produces’

2023-07-06T11:32:00-04:00

A team comprising iart, AMDL CIRCLE, and Michele De Lucchi has created a ‘zero-energy media façade’ for the Novartis Pavilion in Basel, Switzerland. Combining PV panels and LEDs, the façade is described by the team as “illustrating the potential of organic photovoltaics in architecture.”

Photo credit: iart – studio for media architectures

Photo credit: Laurids Jensen

The façade features 10,000 diamond-shaped solar modules with LED lights embedded within that shine outwards as well as inwards onto the pavilion’s metal shell. The reflection of the metal shell creates a shimmer through the semi-transparent solar modules, resulting in a multi-layered membrane for displaying content.

Photo credit: iart – studio for media architectures

The display only consumes as much electrical energy as it is capable of producing through carbon-based organic solar modules that were custom-made for the project. The modules were ideal for the pavilion’s dom...

Five stylish completed projects by Montalba Architects: Your Next Employer?

2023-01-31T12:11:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to New York City-based SKOLNICK, we are using this week’s edition of our Meet Your Next Employer series to explore the work of California and Switzerland-based practice Montalba Architects.

Founded in 2004 by David Montalba, the Santa Monica / Lausanne firm operates across architecture and urban design with an emphasis on “creating environments that are both socially responsive and aesthetically progressive.” The practice defines its set of design values as: working contextually; honesty of materials; shared landscape; expansion of space; expression of technique; and sculpted light.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions in their Santa Monica studio. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or those interested in learning more about the firm’s work, we have rounded up five completed projects by Montalba that reflect the studio’s principles.

LR2 Residence, Pasadena, CA

Located on a hillside perch in Pasadena...

Recent projects by precision craftspeople XTEN: Your Next Employer?

2022-09-19T12:11:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to multidisciplinary practice SITU, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Los Angeles this week, where we find precision aestheticians XTEN Architecture.

Founded in 2000, the firm has grown to operate studios in Los Angeles, CA and Sissach, Switzerland. As studio director Monika Haefelfinger told us in our studio snapshot in 2019, the name ‘XTEN’ was inspired by the film Powers of Ten by Ray and Charles Eames.

Reflecting on their design ethos, the firm told us in 2019 that their thesis is “gather, simmer, and reduce.” Organizational grids are a key component to the firm’s projects, resulting in highly rational plans. “Our goal is to leverage control over the quality of concept and craftsmanship in order to create a body of work that lends dignity to the architectural experience,” Haefelfinger told us.

The firm’s Los Angeles studio is currently hiring for several positions over on Archinect Jobs. For candidates interested in applying for a ...

Innovation is the key to 3XN and Itten+Brechbühl's new mass timber campus expansion in Switzerland

2022-08-18T09:00:00-04:00

A little more than 30 years after its opening in 1991, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Innovation Park in Ecublens, Switzerland, has announced a major campus expansion effort to be spearheaded by 3XN and the local studio Itten+Brechbühl (IB).

Their new masterplan, named Ecotype, includes 10 new mass timber structures and a smattering of biophilia-lined greenspaces that will gradually double the size of the entrepreneurial-oriented EPFL’s campus over the course of a ten-year timeframe. According to 3XN’s Jan Ammundsen, "Ecotope will be a campus that facilitates and generates disruptive innovative solutions by being the interface between EPFL and society at large."

Image render courtesy of 3XN.

The project is being undertaken in order to ensure that the 30 or so startups the Innovation Park produces annually will provide the physical spaces needed to thrive. The innovation park will be developed around six core "principles" of biophilia – "serendipity, modularity, ...

Mariam Kamara highlights a diverse group of new faculty appointments at the ETH Zurich

2022-08-17T13:23:00-04:00

Renowned West African architect Mariam Kamara will be among twelve new professors joining the faculty of the ETH Zurich, the school announced on its website late last month.

Her appointment represents a “turning point” for the ETH, as the school’s faculty is now predominantly female for the first time in its history. She is joined by another new full-time appointment to the department, Maria Conen, who had previously been on the faculty as an adjunct professor of architecture and housing.

Kamara’s previous academic experience has included stops at Brown and the Harvard GSD, where she was the Aga Khan critic for 2021. Kamara’s practice atelier masōmī is well-regarded across the design world for her innovative work surrounding memory, the elevation of non-Western architectural traditions, vernacular design, and placemaking. Recently she was named as an honorary fellow by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Previously on Archinect: Mariam Kamara on the higher aspirations of...

ETH Zurich's HiLo unit combines medieval building techniques with innovative construction methods

2021-10-07T14:04:00-04:00

ETH Zurich has unveiled HiLo, the latest addition to Empa and Eawag’s modular NEST research building in Duebendorf, Switzerland. Featuring a doubly curved concrete roof, lightweight funicular floors, and self-learning building technology, the new unit reflects nearly a decade of ETH Zurich research in architecture and sustainable technologies.

Photo: Roman Keller

Sitting at the intersection of past and future, HiLo was inspired by medieval building principles and planned and built using state-of-the-art computational design and fabrication techniques. A team of scientists led by Philippe Block, Professor of Architecture and Structures, and Arno Schlueter, Professor of Architecture and Building Systems, along with industrial partners explored how lightweight structures and efficient construction methods can be combined with intelligent and adaptive building systems to reduce embodied and operational emissions in the construction and building industry.

Photo: Roman Keller

The unit’s ro...

Kanye West's favorite architect is drawing some seriously high praise

2021-09-21T15:15:00-04:00

“For most of us, architecture is a profession of compromise [...] We are service people, turned on and off by the client, not so terribly different from window washers. But Valerio is different. He believes in the physical substance of architecture, not the impression — that something should not just look interesting but be interesting. That makes him incredibly important to our field.”

The ever-famous Valerio Olgiati is also a favorite of Kanye West, whose splashy architectural tastes have made headlines of late, and for whom the Swiss architect is said to be designing an underground Wyoming home, among other projects. The 44-year-old rapper even reached out to him for input on his recent album Donda.

“He says I am Picasso, and his job is to buy land so that I can create,” Olgiati told the NYT Style Magazine. “I have never had anyone who appreciates so much what I do.”

Olgiati previously served as the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Harvard GSD. T Magazine has a lengthy profile of the prolific architect here.

Swiss architect Luigi Snozzi dies of Covid-19

2020-12-30T13:12:00-05:00

Luigi Snozzi, considered the leader of the so-called new Ticino school of architecture, has died aged 88 in Minusio, southern Switzerland. [...] He worked in Locarno (1958), Zurich (1975-88) and Lausanne (1988), and collaborated with Mario Botta, Tita Carloni, Aurelio Galfetti, Bruno Jenni (his brother-in-law) and Livio Vacchini.

In a 2013 interview with the AEFoundation, Snozzi said: "I would say the biggest problem today for architects is the city, and for that reason it is important in architectural education to start with the problem of the city."

"Whereas usually in education one starts with a small project a little house or something like that, I think that instead I would rather start with giving them a piece of the city to design. You first have to learn about the city and then you can do a house because that is in a sense out of context with the city and it’s the most difficult project because every single room has different requirements; living room, bedroom, kitchen and so on."

Herzog & de Meuron's shopping center development in Basel will be topped with a middle school

2020-10-08T15:38:00-04:00

After winning the competition for a massive urban redevelopment project in their hometown of Basel in 2017, Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron now released updated material that shows a more refined and detailed concept.

The Dreispitz Nord scheme seeks to transform a former customs depot into a mixed-use urban district, expanding the reach of downtown Basel.

Image courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.

"The urban proposal for Dreispitz Nord is based on what would seem to be the paradoxical aim of developing and increasing density, while simultaneously creating large, public green spaces," explains a statement put out by the architects.

"Density is achieved by three high-rise towers and an open perimeter block of individual, tightly spaced mid-rise buildings. This block frames a publicly accessible park in contrast to the perimeter blocks in Gundeldingen with their primarily private inner courtyards."

Image courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.

One of the key features to achieve useful densifica...

Christ & Gantenbein completes "Lindt Home of Chocolate" for Swiss chocolatier

2020-09-14T13:20:00-04:00

Swiss architecture firm Christ & Gantenbein has completed the new "Lindt Home of Chocolate" for Lindt & Sprüngli, the Swiss chocolatier founded in 1845. The new facility is located near Lake Zurich on the outskirts of Zurich and includes a factory, warehouses, an office building, and the new gateway to the Lindt Home of Chocolate, which is operated by the Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation.

Moreover, the new Home of Chocolate features an interactive exhibition about chocolate, a research and development facility "for the future of chocolate recipes," a production plant, a chocolate shop, a cafe, and offices, all of which are interconnected by spiral stairways and dynamic walkways that span through an expansive atrium space.

The architecture sits as a simple industrial box. The facade consists primarily of red brick, playing off of the aesthetic of its surroundings. At the south-eastern corner is a cut-out that creates an imposing void to add a level of complexity and character to...

BIG's spiraling Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet opens in Switzerland

2020-07-02T15:22:00-04:00

When Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet selected the low-slung, swirling expansion proposal designed by a Bjarke Ingels-led team of collaborators in June 2014, the dreamy renderings looked promising. Now, six years later, the building finally opened at the company's Le Brassus headquarters in the watchmaking Vallée de Joux of Switzerland, and—judging by new Iwan Baan photos—the completed Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet certainly delivered on its promises.

Photo: Iwan Baan.

"Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet is conceived as an oxymoron," declares the architects' project description, describing it as a "landmark that is seamlessly integrated in the local landscape. A contemporary yet timeless architecture that blends with the historical buildings to create an intuitive sequence of spaces—old and new."

Photo: Iwan Baan.

Image courtesy of Audemars Piguet.

The interiors of the coil's outer rings impress with generous amounts of natural light pouring in while opening up an unimpeded view towa...

Swiss architects construct a cylindrical modular structure for use as student housing

2020-06-05T18:16:00-04:00

Located on the outskirts of the University of Lausanne in Chavannes-près-Renens, Switzerland, the Vortex will house nearly 1,000 students and academic guests by the end of this summer. Designed by Swiss-based IttenBrechbühl, the building welcomed 1,800 athletes taking part in the Youth Olympic Games at Lausanne earlier this year.

The circular form of the architecture creates a vast inner courtyard that is more representative of a park or village square. A number of entrances provide access to this courtyard from the outside, creating an immediate connection to the outer countryside.

Each floor was constructed with modular "boxes," and are connected by a spiral ramp that moves throughout the building. The construction was completed quickly due to the prefabricated nature of the modular units. Each of the floors, except the ground floor, is identical in layout.

The result, is a monolithic mass built economically, sustainably, and timely, and one that will serve as a home for the stude...

Architecture Office's new exhibition explores the transformation of European immigrant towns in the US

2019-04-04T14:51:00-04:00

Founded by Nicole McIntosh and Jonathan Louie, Architecture Office's newest exhibition Swissness Applied focuses on the architectural transformation of European inspired immigrant towns and their presence in the United States. A nation comprised of people and cultures from around the globe, the project allows for the topic of cultural appropriation in architecture, urban design, and planning to be discussed.

Architecture Office co-founder Nicole McIntosh is a Swiss-born architect whose collaborative research explores a highly curated exhibition of various European immigrant towns whose characteristics reference from German, Danish, and Swiss design motifs. US towns such as Frankenmuth, Michigan; Solvang, California; and New Glarus, Wisconsin have been implemented into the American landscape by the individuals who immigrated to those areas. For this exhibition, New Glarus is a town the studio uses as the primary subject of focus in Swissness Applied.

Swissness Applied exhibition m...

World's first digitally planned and built residence debuts in Switzerland

2019-03-05T18:08:00-05:00

In Dübendorf, Switzerland the official opening of the world's first digitally planned and built residence now stands. Coined, the DFAB House, the project was developed by researchers from ETH Zurich in collaboration with industrial partners and the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR). The three-story house sits on top of the Next Evolution in Sustainable Building Technologies (NEST) research institute of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf. According to ETH Zurich, "The aim of digital technologies is not only to make planning and construction more efficient but also more sustainable. For example, the digitally planned floor slab of the DFAB HOUSE is statically and structurally optimized in such a way that considerable amounts of material can be saved compared to a conventional concrete slab."

The three-story, 2,153 square foot smart house was developed by eight ETH Zurich professors ...

Can architecture brace itself during the Polar Vortex? Here are 5 examples of structures designed to withstand freezing temperatures

2019-02-03T10:49:00-05:00

There's no way to sugar coat it, the Polar Vortex of 2019 has aggressively hit various parts of the world. As people have braced themselves for the cold and frigid temperatures, how does the harsh cold remind us of building more resilient structures? Chicago and many other areas in the U.S. have made headlines with its reaction to the Polar Vortex. Photos and videos of snow covered roads, icicle buildings, and frozen bodies of water have graced the media. Although these record-setting temperatures in the Midwest have made a substantial impact on several people, the solution to designing thermal resilient structures is nothing new in the world of architecture.

Several architects and designers have constructed buildings that were made to withstand some of the most extreme temperatures. Places that are prone to the cold like Antarctica and Norway are home to several structures built to withstand such extremes. Below are 5 examples and descriptions of buildings that can brace the cold.

...

The Muzeum Susch is an "alpine chalet, primitive grotto and Bond villain’s lair in one"

2019-01-22T15:59:00-05:00

In this beguiling new gallery in the Engadin valley, it is hard to tell where nature ends and artifice begins. It is located on the site of a 12th-century monastery, in a rambling complex of buildings... The young architects Chasper Schmidlin and Lukas Voellmy have concocted a magical place where the historic fabric, contemporary art and the raw geology of the landscape collide.

Exterior. Photograph: (c) Studio Stefano Graziani, courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation CH

Though the outside of this gallery in the remote Eastern section of Switzerland appears perfectly ordinary, stepping past its entrance reveals a world of difference.

Interior. Photograph: Studio Stefano Graziani/courtesy Muzeum Susch and Art Stations Foundation CH

Muzeum Susch, one of the newest galleries in Switzerland, has been receiving attention for its novel approach towards the conflation of natural rock formations and exhibition space. 68-year-old Grażyna Kulczyk conceived of the private museum after building her first in a former brewery in her hometown of Poznań, Poland.

Given the natural irregularity of the walls, the space will primarily exhibit floor sculptures, including those from Magdalena Abakanowicz, Sara Masüger and Adrián Villar Rojas.

Roeoesli & Maeder Architects team up with local Kenyan builders to complete the new Swiss Embassy in Nairobi

2018-07-26T12:17:00-04:00

Having to work through a flurry of logistical challenges from 3,700 miles away, Lucerne-based Roeoesli & Maeder Architects (or ro.ma) led an international design team to successfully complete the new Swiss Embassy in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The architects describe the design as “an appropriate representation of Switzerland”, while also incorporating local Kenyan building practices and the skills of local companies. Roeoesli & Maeder won the commission in an open competition in 2011.

During the construction phase, Roeoesli & Maeder couldn't spontaneously drop by the site, so they observed the project through only photos. “Building was often done by ‘trial and error’. In other words, they build something (which does not necessarily have to correspond with the plans) and ask whether or not it is OK; if the answer is no, then it is demolished and a new attempt is made,” they explain.

Photo: Iwan Baan.

The exposed concrete building has an earthy red dye whose color...

Watch these robots build a timber house structure in Switzerland

2018-03-30T14:57:00-04:00

A team of researchers from Swiss university ETH Zurich is to use robots to help assemble prefabricated timber modules into a 100 sq m, three-storey house. [...] The robots use information from a CAD model to cut and arrange the beams, then drill holes and connect them. Human workers bolt the beams together.

Photo: NCCR Digital Fabrication / Roman Keller

The Spatial Timber Assemblies robotic research project, with support from Switzerland's National Centre of Competence in Research Digital Fabrication, is the first large-scale architectural application for the construction robots at the new Robotic Fabrication Laboratory at the ETH Zurich.

Photo: NCCR Digital Fabrication / Roman Keller

"Unlike traditional timber frame construction, Spatial Timber Assemblies can manage without reinforcement plates because the required rigidity and load-bearing result from the geometric structure," the NCCR project description explains.

Photo: NCCR Digital Fabrication / Roman Keller

"Not only does this save material; it also opens up new creative possibilities. A total of six spatial, geometrically unique timber modules will be prefabricated in this way for the first time. Lorries will then transport them to the DFAB HOUSE construction site at the NEST in Dübendorf, where they will be joined to build a two-...

This Swiss firm is experimenting with prefab movable housing

2018-03-20T15:29:00-04:00

Swiss architectural practice Rahbaran Hürzeler Architekten is developing an experimental residence to be realized anywhere. Called movable house, every aspect of this project is determined by motion from floor plans to structural elements to energy storage.

The movable house is not designed with a specific site in mind, but rather can be constructed almost anywhere. The main goals of movable house are that it can be put up quickly with easy and efficient transportation of all structural elements.

This prefab architecture can stand alone or be attached to an existing building. The four main areas of the structure are arranged around a central library which doubles as a transitional space to connect it all together. This creates a flexible and transparent living space for a family of four on the smallest possible footprint.

19th century refurbished home and new addition come together in the vineyards of Switzerland

2018-02-01T19:05:00-05:00

When tasked with refurbishing a cluster of houses dating back from the 19th century, Swiss architect Dieter Dietz was asked by his clients for a design that "fostered the coexistence of shared and individual living spaces to provide an opportunity to live independently within a community of friends and their families." In response, Dietz proposed the refurbishment of a former press house (Pressoir) along with the design for a new house (Grange).

New construction to the rural site—a vineyard in Chigny, Switzerland—takes its characteristics from the barn-type. Its exoskeleton, built entirely of nano-film coated solar-cells that provide energy for both houses, is a reverberation of its 19th century neighbor's exposed roof truss. With an exterior of exposed steel, the typical structural order is reversed and the home, completed by a secondary structure made of timber.

Two Hous...

Virtual money still requires real architecture

2017-10-18T13:06:00-04:00

A bitcoin vault doesn’t store actual bitcoin units. Technically, what’s being stored are private, cryptographic keys. It’s odd to think of a virtual currency needing physical storage, but just like your most precious photos, even a cryptocurrency needs some kind of material container.

The company Xapo is using a decommissioned military bunker to safeguard its customers bitcoins. In this article from Quartz, Joon lan Wong describes his way into the vault storing millions of dollars worth of bitcoins and the numerous portals and gates he had to cross.

Archinect - News

Herzog & de Meuron opens new University Children's Hospital in Zurich

ETH Zurich researchers develop robotic process for impact printing earth materials

This Swiss minimalist home was designed as a 'blank canvas' to reflect its Lake Geneva surroundings

Herzog & de Meuron's mass timber HORTUS project advances in Switzerland

China is planning the world’s largest particle collider to rival CERN

Herzog & de Meuron's FORUM UZH design moves forward in Zurich

Production begins on the world’s tallest 3D printed structure

Renzo Piano completes CERN's new Science Gateway project in Geneva

Switzerland releases postal stamp honoring concrete architecture

A solar-powered media façade that ‘consumes only as much energy as it produces’

Five stylish completed projects by Montalba Architects: Your Next Employer?

Recent projects by precision craftspeople XTEN: Your Next Employer?

Innovation is the key to 3XN and Itten+Brechbühl's new mass timber campus expansion in Switzerland

Mariam Kamara highlights a diverse group of new faculty appointments at the ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich's HiLo unit combines medieval building techniques with innovative construction methods

Kanye West's favorite architect is drawing some seriously high praise

Swiss architect Luigi Snozzi dies of Covid-19

Herzog & de Meuron's shopping center development in Basel will be topped with a middle school

Christ & Gantenbein completes "Lindt Home of Chocolate" for Swiss chocolatier

BIG's spiraling Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet​ opens in Switzerland

Swiss architects construct a cylindrical modular structure for use as student housing

Architecture Office's new exhibition explores the transformation of European immigrant towns in the US

World's first digitally planned and built residence debuts in Switzerland

Can architecture brace itself during the Polar Vortex? Here are 5 examples of structures designed to withstand freezing temperatures

The Muzeum Susch is an "alpine chalet, primitive grotto and Bond villain’s lair in one"

Roeoesli & Maede​r Architects team up with local Kenyan builders to complete the new Swiss Embassy in Nairobi

Watch these robots build a timber house structure in Switzerland

This Swiss firm is experimenting with prefab movable housing

19th century refurbished home and new addition come together in the vineyards of Switzerland

Virtual money still requires real architecture

BIG's spiraling Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet opens in Switzerland

Roeoesli & Maeder Architects team up with local Kenyan builders to complete the new Swiss Embassy in Nairobi