The proof in practice.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them"
The $15 million OPENLY Valley Widnau project is breaking records:
Europe's Largest "Hemp House" in 2024
20% higher net rents than reference value
Labels: Minergie P🇨🇭, KfW 40🇩🇪
CO2 savings of approximately 900 metric tons (> -50%) compared to a conventional building, amounting to 6 kg CO2 / m² gross floor area(ökobaudat 5.3 kg)
One of the first net-zero apartment buildings in Europe
(Based on DGNB🇪🇺 standards, taking biogenic carbon sinks into account)One of the largest biochar concrete pours in the world (300 m³ on August 21, 2023)
One of the largest 🇨🇭 reuse projects (steel beams)
First project with 100% recycled and CO2 neutralized reinforcing steel from AFV Beltrame.
Enormous amounts of clay: 400,000 kg in the ceilings and 48,000 kg in the form of clay building panels for partition walls (available through our subsidiary, Cancret Materials)
Prefabricated Bathrooms with Heat Recovery
110% net positive energy; 12.6 kWh effective energy demand for heating and hot water per m² of gross floor area
Pioneering work
OPENLY's vision is to turn office and residential buildings from carbon emitters into carbon sinks. To date, no one has achieved a commercially scalable building system that would promote further carbon capture and storage.
The construction industry accounts for a quarter of global CO2 emissions—eight times more than all air travel combined. This has to stop.
Buildings as Certified Carbon Sinks —The Grand Openly Vision
Andy Keel, Groundbreaker
Switzerland
Valley Widnau
Switzerland Valley Widnau
Facts about OPENLY
Valley Widnau
Total project value: 13 million CHF (19 apartments)
Project developer: OPENLY AG
General planner: OPENLY AG
Building permit application, Phase 1: Baumschlager Eberle Architekten
Lead architects: Sandra Schuster, Jürgen Oswald & Willem Bruijn
Color design:Meerevilla
Specialized planners & construction management:See Openly Partners
3,082 m² gross floor area (2,068 m² usable floor area); 8 rental apartments, 11 condominiums sold and scheduled for occupancy in June 2024
Key Facts OPENLY Valley Widnau:
Construction costs (SIA 416)
(BKP2 incl. fees & VAT):
860 CHF / m3
3100 CHF / m2 gross floor area
4,400 CHF / m2 energy reference area
5,850 CHF/m2 net saleable floor area
Ratios:
Net floor area / gross floor area: 51%
Energy reference area / net floor area: 1.33
Underground area (GFA): 33%
Target construction costs Openly construction system:
3000 CHF/EUR per m2 gross floor area
Germany: minus KfW 40 subsidy (37,500 euros per apartment)
CO2 balance CH Valley Widnau
SIA 2032: 8.5kg / m2 EBF * 60 years
Effective according to KBOB: 6.9 kg
Effective according to KBOB without basement: 6.0
CO2 balance Europa Valley Widnau
QNG / DGNB (EN 15978): 7.9kg /m2 EBF * 60 years
Effective according to Ökobaudat: 6.2 kg
Effective according to Ökobaudat without UG: 5.3 kg
Power Consumption, Energy Consumption:
(Based on 2 years of operation, actual, EBF)
13.2 kWh
Plus-Energy Ratio: 110%
Download Key Figures
Construction time for Phase 1: 13 months (from the start of excavation to move-in)
Planning time: 17 months
Photocredit: Jens Ellensohn
High res download: Openly/media