Media Corner
For 2 years, everything that is currently standard in construction was questioned and new, sustainable solutions were worked on. Now the first building with 19 apartments is being completed in Widnau using the OPENLY construction system, and this is raising the bar in terms of sustainability. The entire building is net-zero and is PlusEnergy in terms of maintenance. It is about much more than architecture. It is the "building turnaround". Current reporting and media releases can be found in our Media Corner:
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Lively interest in the OPENLY building system even during the construction phase
Largest hemp house in Europe: 1500m2 timber system construction with hempcrete infill. A new process for hempcrete walls was developed, reducing costs by 300%. Hempcrete stores approx. 210kg per m3 and is therefore CO2 negative or a C-sink. Another technical term is "carbon casting"
Each component was scrutinized according to a) Can it be omitted (avoidance) and b) What has the lowest CO2 footprint? OPENLY has set up a team for this research and makes the difficult-to-understand life cycle assessments of KBOB and Ökobaudat interpretable. Link CO2 balances
World record: Largest biochar concreting stage (300m3 on 21.8.2023) - OPENLY Valley Widnau will be completely CO2 neutral thanks to CCS (Carbon Capturing & Storage) in the building.
We developed our own system for timber box girder ceilings with clay fill. Industrialization has also made it possible to reduce the costs of this component by 200%. The entire OPENLY construction system is screwed or plugged in. HEB & HEM iron girders from re-use are used for the box girder ceilings. The apartment partition walls inside the building were also made of clay.
Innovation: First construction project in Switzerland with 100% recycled steel that was 100% CO2 compensated by Stahl Gerlafingen or the AFV Beltram Group.
Location of the Valley Widnau project:
