Strong together

Once the floor decking had been laid on the lower joists, we were able to begin assembling and erecting the prefabricated walls. Under the supervision of carpenters Dominik Walliser and Thomas Leiggener, the walls were erected with millimetre precision. We were pleased to note that the concrete foundation – despite the simple construction methods used on site – exhibited remarkable dimensional accuracy. By the end of the second week of erection, the entire volume of the ground floor was already in place.

The central columns were then assembled and erected. Nine portable sections were assembled to form a massive column that could only be erected through a combined effort. The central beams were also assembled from several smaller wooden sections. This simple yet elegant technique of creating large, stable structural elements from small, soft wooden sections was developed by the timber construction engineering firm Makiol Wiederkehr in Beinwil-am-See.