Construction Work on Modular Research Building Gets Underway
The first sod was cut by Empa Director Gian-Luca Bona and Eawag Director Janet Hering, together with Walter Steinmann, Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE); Markus Kagi, a member of the Canton of Zurich's Governing Council; and Lothar Ziorjen, the Mayor of Dubendorf. The project is funded by the federal government, the canton and the municipality. Over the next few years, the one-of-a-kind research house in Europe designed by the Zurich-based architecture firm Gramazio & Kohler will be putting future forms of living and working, new construction methods and new, energy-efficient technologies to the test. This will allow these technologies to reach market maturity more rapidly, which could give the industrial companies involved a major headstart. NEST will be permanently occupied as a guesthouse and the office units used on a daily basis.