Think Earth News channel

Think Earth marked its first year at ETH Zurich, bringing together over 80 partners to share updates, future plans, and a key case study on sustainable construction.

The first Think Earth case study project was inaugurated at the HSLU in Horw. The pavilion, initiated by Oxara, was built with innovative earth-based materials and forms the basis for pioneering research in the field of sustainable construction.

Several researchers and implementation partners from Think Earth attended LEHM 2024, the 9th International Conference for Earth Building organised by the Dachverband Lehm e.V. in Weimar in September. The fully booked quadrennial conference offered interesting presentations on current projects and products, as well as standardisation and research in earth building. Think Earth team participated in the conference and had the opportunity to exchange ideas with researchers from other institutions.

Traditional building materials like wood and clay are both climate-friendly and highly complementary. To make them viable for large-scale use in the construction industry, Empa—Switzerland's research leader in materials science—has partnered with Think Earth, Swiss universities, and industry experts to turn this vision into reality. Read more about Empa's participation in this article published in Empa Quarterly.

Researchers from Think Earth visited Altendorf in Canton Schwyz, to see a multi-storey residential building under construction by project partner Rematter. Visible floor slabs constructed with timber and rammed earth, and walls with visible timber panels or exposed masonry with compressed earth bricks, emphasizing natural materials, affordability, and circularity. Congratulations to our partners at Rematter and all those involved in the planning and realization of this exceptional building.