Where others park, you soon live

If you're looking for living space in Baden-Dättwil, you'd better look up. Eight modular wooden houses are to be built above a fast food outlet and a supermarket - compact, sustainable and already fully booked. An investor from Aargau proves that unused roofs could be the answer to the housing shortage.

Christoph Schoop didn’t have to look far. The real estate investor from Baden looked out of his office window at the Dättwil industrial estate and recognized the obvious: huge flat roofs, completely unused. On the roof of the factory arcade at Mellingerstrasse 208, where McDonald’s, Spar and a bakery now provide for everyday life, eight so-called Wikkelhäuser are to be built from spring 2027.

A new world on the roof
The Wikkelhouse concept originated in Amsterdam and is now coming to Switzerland. Compact wooden housing units that are delivered ready-made by truck and erected with minimal effort. Each unit offers 30 to 35 square meters, its own terrace and ceiling heights of up to 3.5 meters. Architect Andreas Zehnder, who designed the project for Baden, clearly formulates the added value. Instead of adding another storey, an independent living space has been created on the roof.

Swiss wood, Uri factory
The houses are not produced on the building site, but in the company’s own factory in Flüelen UR on the shores of Lake Lucerne. The raw material is Swiss wood from sustainable forestry. Schoop is a co-founder and supporter of Wikkelhouse Switzerland and promotes the concept as a circular economy model. A unit costs from CHF 200,000 ex works; transportation and assembly are additional costs.

Inexpensive, sunny, connected
By Baden standards, rents should remain low. There is already a waiting list and, according to Schoop, inquiries have come from “a wide range of people”, including those of AHV age. And although the industrial area is not considered a residential location, the roof offers all-day sunshine and a direct public transport connection. The building itself provides noise protection.

Pilot with scaling potential
The project in Dättwil is explicitly designed as a pilot project. Schoop sees space for 50 to 70 Wikkel houses in the industrial area alone. The city of Baden is currently reviewing the suitability for planning permission. If everything goes according to plan, the first residents will move in in spring 2027. What sounds like a curiosity today could set a precedent tomorrow.