Tag: Meilenstein

Wood City – a milestone for the cities of the future with wood

The renaissance of timber construction as a symbol of ecological building
The decision to use wood as the primary building material is at the centre of Stockholm Wood City. This step reflects the growing awareness of environmentally friendly construction methods and emphasises the many advantages of timber constructions. In addition to enhancing the aesthetics of the urban space, timber buildings help to improve air quality, promote well-being, increase labour productivity and act as a natural carbon sink.

“Stockholm Wood City is a manifesto of our vision for the future,” explains Annica Ånäs, CEO of Atrium Ljungberg. “The project not only marks a significant step forward for our company, but also sets a historic milestone for Sweden’s innovative strength.”

Innovation and sustainability as guiding principles
Stockholm Wood City goes beyond the mere use of wood as a building material and takes a holistic approach to sustainability. The project integrates advanced technologies to increase energy efficiency and promotes the careful use of resources through the self-production and shared use of energy as well as the use of resource-efficient construction techniques.

As a flagship project for future-orientated urban development, Stockholm Wood City will not only enrich the cityscape of Stockholm, but will also provide significant impetus for the construction industry worldwide. With its fusion of innovation, sustainability and community spirit, it offers an inspiring blueprint for the design of future urban living spaces.

April 2024
Bühler’s Grain Technology Centre nears completion

The Bühler Group ‘s new Grain Innovation Centre(GIC) at its headquarters in Uzwil is almost complete. The technology company based in the St.GallenBodenseeArea has announced that the building project has reached the final construction phase. Just over 18 months after the start of construction work, the installation of all machines and systems has begun. For Bühler AG, the modernisation represents a “milestone on the road to innovation in grain processing”, according to the statement.

According to the press release, the new GIC will replace the previous facility after almost 75 years, as it no longer met the changing market dynamics in the grain processing industry and in the development of future food products. A five-storey multi-purpose centre will now be built on an area of 2000 square metres, which can be used for tests and research on new products. Important questions can be clarified here, “such as how local raw materials can be used, how productivity can be increased, how safety can be improved and how the requirements for healthier and new products can be met,” it says.

The new Grain Technology Centre combines Bühler’s past and experience in milling with state-of-the-art technology. “By integrating the GIC into Bühler’s network of application and training centres, customers in Uzwil benefit from an ideal facility that enables them to turn challenges into opportunities,” says Christian Geser, Project Manager Grains & Food at Bühler. The structural concept also includes Bühler’s Milling Academy and the school for animal feed technology right next to the GIC.

March 2024
Introduction of the Swiss circularity indicator for sustainable construction projects

In order to comply with the principles of the circular economy, which aims to minimise resource consumption, waste and emissions through the circular use of materials, the measurable circularity of construction projects is of crucial importance. The newly introduced guidelines create a basis for objectively assessing and increasing circularity in the construction and property sector in Switzerland. It aims to make the effectiveness of measures to achieve resource efficiency comparable and invites all industry participants to actively contribute feedback and implement the guidelines in their projects.

The guidelines, which can be used for both new buildings and renovations, offer planners and architects a practice-orientated methodology for estimating the material circularity of their construction projects. It is based on European standards and the specific requirements of the Swiss market and supports the industry in implementing circular construction methods.

The application of the guideline in initial pilot projects has already shown how material flows can be optimised and disposal routes made more efficient as early as the planning phase. Based on this experience, building owners can now include quantifiable circularity requirements in tenders, which enables architects and planners to evaluate different construction alternatives in terms of their sustainability. The guide also makes it easier for authorities and legislators to quantify and systematically demand circular economy principles in the construction sector.

The guide was developed through the initiative of the Madaster Switzerland association in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), property owners, standardisation and certification organisations as well as experts from science and practice. The Madaster platform serves as a central tool for calculating and analysing the circularity data.

The open invitation to feedback from the industry ensures a continuous improvement process and promotes the further development of the guideline. This approach underlines the joint endeavour to make the construction and real estate industry in Switzerland more sustainable and to effectively implement the principles of the circular economy.

February 2024
Höhn + Partner AG moves into the future: Newly founded Hoehnpartner AG

In the split-off and newly named company Hoehnpartner AG, the services of an architectural office and a total contracting company continue to be offered. The remaining part of the business of Hoehn + Partner AG will henceforth concentrate on property trading.

The newly founded Hoehnpartner AG is a medium-sized company specialising in the construction of residential property. It has emerged from the many years of experience and expertise of Hoehn + Partner AG, which was active in the fields of architecture, total contracting as well as project development and financing. In order to meet current market requirements, the decision was made to reorganise the company, with architecture and total contracting working even more closely together. The focus is on the development, design and implementation of residential building projects, with a small proportion of commercial buildings also being included. Höhn + Partner AG will take a back seat.

The existing management team will remain on board, while young employees will be given the opportunity to develop and advance. Hoehnpartner AG strives for continuous renewal with its own and grown resources in order to meet the demands of the market. In doing so, flexibility is strived for while maintaining the same level of quality. Most of the approximately 25 employees from the areas of architecture, project and construction management are now transferring to the new Hoehnpartner AG.

June 2023
Second tube of the Gotthard tunnel: first tunnel boring machine “Carla” at its destination

Sometimes Carla, with her followers more than 200 m long, came slowly, sometimes much faster than planned, depending on the nature of the rock. On average, Carla covered about 17 m per day. Her record performance is 45.4 m per day, achieved in rather soft gneiss.

TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION IS TEAMWORK
“It’s great that we were able to excavate the northern access tunnel on time and, above all, without any significant accidents,” says Jacopo Cheda, head of northern construction at FEDRO. Xavier von Mandach, Implenia’s site manager in charge, emphasises the good cooperation: “Tunnel construction is always teamwork. Our team, consisting of several companies and colleagues from many nations, has a great deal of experience and works in a highly professional manner. Together we were able to successfully master the technical challenges and reach this important milestone without incident. The team did a great job.”

WHAT’S NEXT
The excavation of the access tunnel, which runs parallel to the future second tunnel tube, also provided important findings for the other construction work that will be carried out in the future, which are important for Carla’s “big sister”, which will excavate the northern section of the main tube from 2025.

In August 2022, FEDRO awarded the “secondo tubo” consortium with Implenia (60%) and Frutiger (40%) the contract for the northern main lot (Lot 241) of the second tube of the Gotthard road tunnel. The construction period for the 7.9 km long tunnel section up to the lot boundary in the middle of the tunnel is scheduled until 2029.

The construction of the second tube will be driven simultaneously from the north and from the south. A total of four TBMs will be used for this: two smaller ones (Carla and Delia) for the two access tunnels and the two large ones with a shield diameter of over twelve metres for the main tunnel.

Source: implenia.com

May 2023
Green light for digitally manufactured concrete staircase

It is one of the big challenges in the upcoming NEST unit “STEP2”: a concrete staircase whose shape is reminiscent of a human spine. Although the unit is still in the planning stage, parts of the stairs have already been produced as prototypes. Because the unit pursues a great goal: only what has a future in the construction industry will be built. Together, the partners work consistently towards market readiness – and this is also the case with the staircase.

“Over the past two years, the project team has jointly developed a completely new concept for the production of customised concrete components. This was only possible because the experts along the entire value chain worked together at eye level,” says Enrico Marchesi, innovation manager at NEST and project manager of “STEP2”, with conviction. The interdisciplinary project team was put together together together with the scouting and incubation experts of the main partner BASF. It is made up of the architectural firm ROK, which is responsible for the project management, the ETH Chair of Digital Building Technologies, 3D printing experts from the BASF subsidiary BASF Forward AM and the 3D printing company New Digital Craft, experts from the precast concrete manufacturer SW Umwelttechnik, engineers from the engineering firm WaltGalmarini and the experts from the Empa spin-off “re-fer”.

Customised solutions
The “STEP2” staircase impressively demonstrates how concrete structures can be realised with the help of computer-aided design and the latest 3D printing technologies. By using 3D-printed formwork, it is possible to create more complex shapes than with previous special formwork. At the same time, the amount of material required can be significantly reduced.

The process enables customised concrete solutions that can be optimally adapted to the respective application and have a high level of detail. In addition, it also holds great potential in restoration, for example in the renovation of historical buildings.

High complexity
The design of the staircase comes from the ETH Chair of Digital Building Technologies. Based on this, the project team developed a complex, parameter-based formwork system for the individual steps, which is produced using 3D printing. “It was important for us to use digital fabrication in such a way that we can produce extremely filigree concrete elements. A key criterion for the system was the reusability of the formwork for the production of multiple steps. At the same time, we had to take into account the requirements of 3D printing and the material, as well as the conditions when filling the formwork,” explains Benjamin Dillenburger, head of the “Digital Building Technologies” team. In order to meet all these requirements, the exchange within the entire project team was of central importance.

“In order for the 3D-printed formwork to be used for several stages, we used a suitable coating. In terms of sustainability, we opted for a material that can be detached from the formwork again. This is the only way we can ensure that the material is separated by type,” says Jörg Petri from “New Digital Craft”. He and the “Virtual Engineering” team from “BASF Forward AM” brought their years of know-how in the 3D printing field to the project.

“For BASF Forward AM, the project is an important milestone in demonstrating that the materials used can withstand the high demands. It pays into our strategy to realise formwork using 3D printing as an alternative to conventional mould making,” says Anke Johannes, Director Sales Europe at BASF Forward AM. For the formwork material, the team chose Ultrafuse® PET CF15 filament because of its excellent properties for concrete formwork applications. In the end, the concept for manufacturing and assembling the formwork elements was ready.

The endurance test
Now the time had come to turn the stairs into reality. SW Umwelttechnik produced the steps in its own factory with the help of the formwork. Ultra-high-strength fibre-reinforced concrete was used as the material. “Our concrete allows for very thin, complex shapes that could not be realised with normal reinforced concrete. It’s great that we can demonstrate this so impressively with the staircase in the “STEP2″ unit,” says a pleased Klaus Einfalt, CEO of SW Umwelttechnik.

The WaltGalmarini engineering office is responsible for calculating and assessing the statics. To check whether the calculated values correspond to reality, the steps were sent to Empa. There they were subjected to various load tests by Empa experts under the supervision of the engineering office. The first prototype consisting of three stages, which were all tested individually, largely fulfilled expectations and at the same time provided new findings for optimising the system.

In the subsequent prototype, not only the statics but also the construction of the staircase system was put to the test. Three steps were threaded on top of each other and clamped together using “memory-steel”, an innovative prestressing technique developed by Empa spin-off “re-fer”. In the process, bars of the type “re-bar R18” were placed in predefined cavities and mechanically anchored. The pre-stressing was done by heating with electricity. Afterwards, further tests were carried out to analyse how loadable the steps are individually and the system as a whole. The result: the engineers deemed the overall system reliable.

“I am very pleased that the staircase could not only convince on paper, but now also in practice. This represents an extremely important milestone in the project for us,” says Michael Knauss from ROK. With this “proof of concept”, the production of the final staircase can now take place – another important step towards the realisation of the NEST unit “STEP2”.

February 2023
New GLC research building, ETH Zurich: Today's facade technology for tomorrow's health sciences

With the new building in Gloriarank (GLC), ETH Zurich is creating a modern development and laboratory building at the interface between health sciences and technology in the university district of Zurich Zentrum. Together with partners, ETH Zurich would like to set a milestone in medical technology research and application. Research groups will meet in the new building and work more closely together on research projects with industry, the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich and other university hospitals. ETH Zurich is also making an architectural statement with the new building. The attractive connection of the structure to the existing ETZ building creates a central courtyard, the heart of which is the listed Scherrer lecture hall. The inner courtyard created in this way becomes the center around which the main entrances and public facilities are grouped.
When it comes to architecture, “Everything is Roger” here.
He speaks of "Maison de Verre", but in this case he does not mean the famous 1930s glass house in Paris – the Zurich architect Roger Boltshauser. Rather, with the GLC research building, he created a sensational building that, with its glass facade made of glass block elements assembled in a cassette-like manner and the ventilation wings staggered in depth, creates a sublime heaviness that does justice to its representative character. Since the use of glass blocks as a façade material in contemporary industrial and university buildings has a long tradition, the architect redesigned the material for this project in terms of design, technology and energy. It not only meets today's enormously high demands on energy and sustainability. Rather, through the combination of reduction and robustness of the elements used, the design corresponds to the basic urban planning attitude of the quarter.
Thinking together means thinking ahead.
3,866 m² of steel facade, 22,550 m² of floor space, 1,875 mm high casement windows with a projection of 2,800 mm, the strictest environmental and fire protection standards and much more: the new GLC building was a challenge in every respect, which was mastered thanks to the open and constructive exchange of ideas between the companies involved was mastered. A good example of this are the particularly heavy cleaning blades. Due to its complex geometry, Aepli Metallbau – in cooperation with Jansen AG – subjected it to an endurance test beforehand. A prototype was specially built for this purpose. Exactly 1250 problem-free openings and closings later, it was clear: everything works perfectly!
Contact:
Matthew Elmer
Aepli Metallbau AG
Direct phone +41 71 388 82 38
matthias.elmer@aepli.ch
www.aepli.ch

April 2022
Revolutionary energy storage

The apartment buildings in Seebrighof store solar power in the form of hydrogen. Dr. Martin Nicklas, Head of Energy Contracting at EKZ, explains the revolutionary power-to-gas concept: “On summer days, the solar system on the roof of the Seebrighof will produce more electricity than the residents can use. The so-called power-to-gas plant turns this into hydrogen. In winter the energy requirement is higher. Then the stored hydrogen is converted into energy. Around 55 percent of this is used to generate electricity in the system’s fuel cells. The remaining 45 percent of the energy escapes as waste heat, which is used to heat the building. ” The hydrogen is produced from tap water that is processed directly in the plant. Oxygen is created as a quasi waste product, which escapes into the ambient air. This is environmentally friendly because in winter the hydrogen is converted back into water and renewable energy with oxygen from the air. This closes the cycle. The system only uses locally produced solar power for production, and the public power grid is relieved.

EKZ as a pioneer
With a battery in the house, short-term fluctuations in solar power production in the summer are absorbed and, for example, solar power is stored for the night. The P2G system constantly converts the excess remaining free into hydrogen. As a result, it can be implemented more cost-effectively and operated more efficiently. For Nicklas, EKZ is taking on a pioneering role in the conversion to renewable energy supply: “For the first time in Switzerland, a P2G system is being implemented that can also be used cost-effectively in other properties of different sizes – even in existing buildings. With the system, we are testing the potential of seasonal energy storage from solar power for the winter. ” There are a few properties with hydrogen systems in Switzerland, including in the canton of Zurich. The difference in the project in the Seebrighof is the standardized concept, which can be easily and inexpensively applied to other buildings.

Power-to-gas system
But it gets even better: thanks to the power-to-gas system, most of the solar power can be used locally. The electrical efficiency of the P2G system is around 30 to 35 percent across all processes. The rest is generated as waste heat, which is used for hot water heating in summer and for heating in winter. Would you be able to supply yourself with energy completely independently at the Seebrighof? – «This would be technically possible and is already being done in this way in individual properties. However, this would be very costly and was therefore not the aim of this project. “

Safe hydrogen storage
Appropriate safety precautions must be taken when storing flammable and potentially explosive gases such as natural gas or hydrogen. These measures are checked by the authorities to ensure safe installations. Hydrogen is usually stored outdoors, with any leakage gas quickly volatilizing and thus preventing an explosive mixture. In the current case, according to Nicklas, the H2 is stored in commercially available gas cylinders that fully meet Swiss safety standards and norms.

When is a P2G system worthwhile?
The answer depends on many factors and must always relate to the specific building project and the requirements of the client, as Nicklas explains: “The fundamental question is how often the hydrogen storage tank can be charged per year. Because with each charging cycle, the system generates a contribution margin that contributes to amortization. We are also testing this potential with the system and are further developing the concept accordingly. ” The client of the Seebrighof is also demonstrating a pioneering spirit with the project. In this way, she does not only have the system installed from a purely monetary point of view. One would like to lead the way here and make a contribution to reducing the supply gap in winter – making society more independent of energy imports from fossil sources. The facility at Seebrighof can be financed well thanks to its cost-effective implementation, says Nicklas. She makes a significant contribution to research into seasonal storage technologies: “How economically effective the technology is is the subject of our investigations. In the next few years, however, we expect another significant price reduction on the hydrogen market, which could give the technology a boost.

Energy strategy 2050
In the Federal Council’s Energy Strategy 2050, storage technologies based on gases and liquids have a high priority. With the first standardized power-to-gas system, EKZ has reached an important milestone that could serve as an example for future developments. Nicklas concludes: “If we want to fully feed heat and power supply as well as mobility with renewable energy sources, we need efforts in all areas. Hydrogen as a storage medium can help to defuse the challenges of power supply in winter ».

October 2021