Woodwork.
Wood and clay – traditional materials that are nevertheless highly relevant to 21st-century construction. We have been planning and building with wood for many years already. What makes this special, is that we combine our woodwork expertise with our knowledge of steelwork and concrete construction.
We see the materials (wood, steel, concrete or masonry) as means to an end: The best possible material is derived from structural planning, underground engineering, the location, facade planning and potential resource savings. Our result can be a wooden structure, but does not necessarily have to be.
This means that whatever our office selects, the building’s appearance and material are not yet fixed. Our clients are presented with an overall concept and the optimal solution from among a multitude of alternatives.
Smart Living Lab
Designed on the basis of a global vision and the result of a parallel study contract won in 2019 by the team HOP, comprising Behnisch Architekten, Drees & Sommer and ZPF Ingenieure, the innovative and scalable Smart Living Lab building is entering the realisation phase in 2021. This new building, which will be made available to 130 researchers from EPFL, the Fribourg School of Engineering and Architecture, and the University of Fribourg, is planned in accordance with the Swiss government’s 2050 energy targets.
In order to reach these targets, the structure has been developed as a glued laminated timber frame (post-and-beam) construction based on an efficient grid system with prefabricated timber framework ceilings and planned in 3D. However, this compact wooden building not only houses an institute, it also serves as a research object itself.