Light construction, efficient operation

The HiLo unit sits on the top platform of the NEST research and innovation building on the Empa campus in Dubendorf, Switzerland. Photo: Roman Keller - Boasting an intricate, doubly curved concrete roof, lightweight funicular floors, and self-learning building technology, the latest addition to Empa and Eawag's NEST research building in Duebendorf, Switzerland officially opened today. The innovative unit illustrates nearly a decade of formative ETH Zurich research in architecture and sustainable technologies. HiLo, the latest NEST unit, combines medieval building principles with futuristic construction methods: the two-storey building module with its striking, doubly curved concrete roof and novel, lightweight funicular floor system was inspired by construction methods of the past, and planned and built using state-of-the-art computational design and fabrication techniques. In the new unit, a team of scientists led by Philippe Block, Professor of Architecture and Structures, and Arno Schlueter, Professor of Architecture and Building Systems together with industrial partners explored how lightweight structures and efficient construction methods can be combined with intelligent and adaptive building systems to reduce both embodied and operational emissions in the construction and building industry. The unit's striking roof derives its load-bearing capacity from its highly curved geometry combined with a concrete sandwich structure, made of two thin layers of reinforced concrete connected by a grid of concrete ribs and steel anchors.