Specialist event highlights pathways to circular construction
Oxara and the Winterthur Building Authority are organising a specialist event on natural building materials at the Winterthur Grüze Innovation Lab. On 9 June, four experts will present their projects there and discuss how the use of traditional materials can be reimagined for the modern age.
Oxara and the Winterthur Building Authority invite you to the Winterthur Grüze Innovation Lab on 9 June. This meeting place, located right next to Grüze railway station, was developed by the Winterthur Civil Engineering Office in collaboration with the Department of Architecture, Design and Civil Engineering at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and Holcim Switzerland, and is due to open in 2024. It provides the setting for this three-and-a-half-hour event, which explores the question: How do we want to build – and live – in the future?
In its invitation, Oxara – a Dietikon-based company specialising in sustainable, circular construction – emphasises that innovation does not always mean inventing something completely new: “Sometimes it means rethinking tried-and-tested materials, combining them with modern construction technologies and transferring them from niche applications into practical use.” The company, which specialises in the use of natural and recycled building materials, is currently playing a key role in the construction of the Swiss Embassy in the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé.
To kick off the specialist event, Bettina Baggenstos will report on the construction of the Hortus office building (house of research, technology, utopia and sustainability) in Allschwil, Basel-Landschaft. Hortus was designed by the project teams at Herzog & de Meuron and ZPF Ingenieure and constructed by, among others, Blumer Lehmann Holzbau from Gossau, St. Gallen, and the Austrian firm Lehmit GmbH.
Franz Schneider from arento AG in Hinwil, ZH, will contribute to the event with his presentation on “Claywood – a successful failure: an apartment block made of clay, wood and recycled materials – and honest insights from the implementation”. Christoph Neururer from OPENLY AG in Widnau SG will speak on “Renewable building materials – carbon sinks and the transition to net zero”. Rosanna May from the Zurich-based architectural firm Kollektiv Zebra will offer her insights on the question “Traditional building materials: How can they move from a niche market to the mass market?”. The event will conclude with a drinks reception.