Huber Pavilion
ETH Zürich - CEA Lab
Reusing the Huber Pavilions
Students redistributed and reused nearly a third of the original wooden structure. They used various methods such as scanning, digital fabrication, computational design, and digital twins to research and test how to reuse materials, ultimately designing and building a new structure out of the Huber Pavilion. Other parts found a new home through the platform useagain.ch, and the windows were transported to Ukraine to help rebuild or repair buildings affected by the war.
Huber Reuse
To prevent wasting the components of the original buildings, Elias Knecht focused his master’s thesis project on saving as much of the structure as possible. Barbara Buser, Prof. Momoyo Kaijima of the Department of Architecture and Prof. Dr. Catherine De Wolf of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich co-supervised Knecht’s project, which managed to save one third of the materials from the pavilions in close collaboration with industry partners.
Materials were distributed on the online platform useagain. For example windows were carefully removed and donated to reconstruction projects in Ukraine.
In a spring course for students at ETH Zurich, students then built a new structure out of the materials saved from the Huber Pavilions. This film shows how the materials from the Huber pavilions were reused to create learning spaces. Together with industry partners such as baubüro in situ and Eberhard, the ETH Zurich team managed to save at least a third of the materials that would have otherwise gone to waste.
Press & Awards
The collaborative building project with the industry partners baubüro insitu, Wick Upcycling and B3 Gruppe AG was honoured with the ArcAward 2023 by the Schweizer Baudokumentation. The jury especially commended the cooperation and contributions of everyone involved in this collaborative project.
Von Elias Knecht
Von Elias Knecht
Bauteil, wiederverwendet, sucht…
Von Elias Knecht
Zirkularität auf dem Campus: Das Weiterleben der Huber-Pavillons
Von Sorana Radulescu
Circular Construction
For the spring course “Digital Transformation for Circular Construction” at ETH Zurich, students were asked to work in groups and produce a short film about different digital technologies discussed in the classes. The films were showcased at the vernissage of the structure designed and built throughout the semester with reused materials. The selected winners of the film competition are presented on the Library of Reuse.
Reused Learning Spaces
The materials from the Huber pavilions were reused to create learning spaces. Together with industry partners such as baubüro in situ and Eberhard, the ETH Zurich team managed to save at least a third of the materials that would have otherwise gone to waste.