3 – 2020

For our climate

Stone; earth, solid wood: for decades the use of these traditional materials taken directly from nature in modern architecture was conceivable only as a thin applied skin. Concrete and brick, and less often steel, assumed the main role in construction as they promised freedom in design, greater spans and the free transfer of loads. Behind them stand influential industries that promote their use by means of standards and marketing. But these same industries are among the most CO₂-intensive areas of the economy and demand the use of limited resources.

In recent years in the search for authentic and at the same time ecological methods of construction numerous old building materials have been rediscovered. These, too, were initially used only in the form of claddings, panels or coatings: earth, lime, wool, hemp and straw – as alternatives to expanded polystyrene and plastic films. More recently efforts have been made to find alternatives in the area of primary construction, too. Alternatives also to the complex system of building up layers to make facades whose expression no longer has anything to do with the constructional reality. It is to such, alternatives that we devote this issue.

We present construction concepts that make use of long-forgotten materials and employ them in a new, contemporary way as load-bearing materials and at a larger scale. Some of these new ways of building fundamentally shape the design through their recalcitrant individuality and precisely on this account they give architecture interesting themes: there use produces less CO₂, they are durable, age gracefully and they allow expression and construction to move closer together again. We are convinced that for a climate-neutral Switzerland, too, a new orientation as regards building materials will be necessary. Also, in order to erect buildings that can become not just 50 but easily 200 years old – and which at the end of their useful life can be taken apart so that the elements can later be used again separately. We argue for building methods that protect the climate and resources, with the aim of finding an expression for architecture that can lay claim to permanence.