543 Hortus on Hochparterre

ALLSCHWIL, SWITZERLAND – The House of Research, Technology, Utopia and Sustainability, or HORTUS for short, is a multi-storey timber office building that applies radical sustainable building practices to achieve a low carbon footprint with the goal of becoming an energy positive building within thirty years. HORTUS shares the same site as in Allschwil as the Main Campus of the Switzerland Innovation Park (SIP Main Campus). These two buildings at first glance seem furthest apart in their building ecologies: HORTUS a wooden construction with clay ceilings, while SIP Main Campus, four times the size of its neighbor and built of concrete and glass. Yet, project manager Alexander Franz would argue both are sustainable.

Both projects were designed by Herzog & de Meuron with the developer SENN and ZPF engineers. Alexander Franz and senior partner Stefan Marbach were interviewed for the architecture, planning and design news website, Hochparterre. The article explores sustainability through these contrasting buildings and reflects on the potential within future projects.

HOCHPARTERRE