Integration and Case Studies
Think Subproject 9 explores hybrid timber-earth construction, highlighting timber's efficiency and earth's passive energy benefits, all with a low CO2 footprint. Over five years, five case studies will examine material and design insights. Results will be shared on a digital platform to promote sustainable architecture and encourage scaling across Switzerland.
Think Earth aims to demonstrate a fundamental transformation process towards climate-neutral construction with timber and earth. The Think Earth project as a whole will be carried out in three stages between 2023 and 2028, and will involve ten subprojects focusing on materials/processes, technology/architecture, and framework conditions.
The Subproject 9 “Case Studies & Integration” aims to advance the formalization and demonstration of an integrated design process that seamlessly incorporates earth and wood into architectural designs. To expand our understanding of the interaction between materials, people and the environment, we investigate the use of local potentials in combination with earth/timber (e.g. use of passive solar gains), the influence of hybrid earth/timber elements on comfort (e.g. temperature sensation, humidity and acoustics) and the influence of earth/timber buildings on the environment (e.g. via the balancing of greenhouse gas emissions during construction and operation).
Together with partners from academia and industry, we will work in an interdisciplinary way to integrate the two materials in different case studies. At the same time, we will support our partners so that design objectives are achieved and validated during and after implementation. The integrated design and monitoring approach will be developed and tested at ETH Zurich's Zero Carbon Building Systems Lab, HSLU's Pavillon MANALl in Horw, Lucerne, and the Humanitas building in Acquarossa, Ticino. The latter is currently serving as a case study in our design studio “Design for Climate” at ETH Zurich, where we are investigating the influence of earth and sun on building design in collaboration with Studio Boltshauser and the Chair of Architectural Behaviorology at ETH Zurich.
The coproduction of knowledge is promoted through a digital platform and workshops in which experiences and data from research and practice are exchanged and communicated. The active involvement of all research partners and the inclusion of expertise from various fields will reduce risks, strengthen confidence in practical implementation and ultimately create the basis for broad scaling.
Main objectives:
- Formalize and demonstrate an integrated design process for the holistic integration of hybrid earth/timber elements in architecture.
- Demonstrate applications of innovative, multifunctional earth/timber elements in case studies and measure their impact on the indoor environment;
- Development and maintenance of a digital platform, as well as the implementation of workshops for the exchange of knowledge, experiences and recommendations from the applications/measurement campaigns.