HORTUS

On the BaseLink site in Allschwil near Basel, SENN, Herzog & de Meuron and ZPF Ingenieure are jointly developing an office building with approx. 10,000 m² of usable space for environmentally conscious (tech) companies. The building sets a new standard for sustainability: it repays the grey building energy and is already energy positive after around 30 years. In addition, it will be constructed from an unusual mix of natural materials.

The planned building is called HORTUS - House of Research, Technology, Utopia and Sustainability. It will pay back its construction energy within one generation, i.e. less than 30 years. On the one hand, this is achieved by keeping the total energy used low thanks to the use of unusual materials such as wood, clay and waste paper. On the other hand, the energy harvest is maximised via photovoltaics.

The HORTUS is committed to the circular economy. Every building component has a future inscribed in it before it is built - and instructions for further use should the building no longer be needed after a few generations.

“The full circle design of the HORTUS ensures that no component is wasted. The raw materials are optimally used by dividing, recycling, repairing and reprocessing them. In the materialisation, we also make sure that the air quality, humidity and temperature are 'healthy' in all seasons, without the users having to restrict themselves,” Nico Ros from ZPF Ingenieure describes the construction.

“For the first time, the process goes from material to construction to building. That's very much in the spirit of ecology.” Nico Ros

The project team is currently researching concepts that promote comfort and health, as well as a new form of rent. Companies should only rent exclusively what they really need and also share common areas (access over ownership). “We have to be able to give everything we make and everything we do a sustainable beauty that is also our own. This is a challenge, but also an incredibly appealing idea, because it will create a new aesthetic in this world,” Herzog & de Meuron say.

The HORTUS will be part of the BaseLink site in Allschwil near Basel. Over the next few years, the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, the pharmaceutical company Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Innovation Office of the University of Basel will move into their offices and laboratories there.