Herzog & de Meuron has designed a 150,000-square-foot office building in Allschwil, Switzerland, with ambitious sustainability goals. The building, called Hortus, features a timber-framed structure with locally sourced, engineered beechwood and spruce. The design prioritizes natural light and air, with large windows and a central courtyard.
The building’s sustainability features include a hybrid floor system consisting of timber elements and rammed earth, which provides thermal mass and fire protection. The facade is designed to maximize natural light and ventilation, with openable double-glazed units and forced-air columns that automatically shut off when tenants open the windows.
According to Alexander Franz, project lead, the client, Senn, tasked the firm with designing “the most sustainable office building in Switzerland.” The building’s sustainability goals include achieving operational and embodied carbon neutrality by 2056. The firm achieved this through various means, including using locally sourced solar panels, cellulose insulation made from recycled newspapers, and clay plaster instead of carbon-heavy gypsum.
Jacques Herzog, founding partner, believes that the quest for sustainability will result in unexpected and surprising architecture with a beauty of its own. The building’s unique design features a vaulted floor slab system, which requires ten times less carbon to construct than a conventional concrete floor.
Image Courtesy: architecturalrecord.com
