DETAIL 3.2026: Natural Building Materials

Whispering Woods

Nature knows best. In nature, circularity is not some unfamiliar process, but the self-evident basis of all existence. Just as nothing is left behind in nature, energy is never wasted. Which means that every end contains a new beginning.

Although there were smart ideas and approaches over 50 years ago that sought to do so much better, ecological building has, to this day, been stuck with the dry image of muesli. Anyone who has ever stood in a house made of timber, earth, or straw knows that architecture means far more than “form follows function”. Today, natural building materials are driven less by ideology than by pragmatic choices and a pursuit of longevity. The synthesis of high-tech and “eco” has long been aesthetically convincing too.

In this issue, we showcase the beauty and potential of natural stone, hemp bricks, and hempcrete; visit a reconstructed “Strickbau” (traditional timber-log construction) that upends the very definition of “immovable property”; look behind the facades of a 16-storey timber housing block; and examine the timber-earth slabs at Hortus, a key project by Herzog & de Meuron. For Alexander Franz, Project Director & Associate Architect, certifications for building compo¬nents are decisive. At Hortus, the earth in the ceilings serves as part of the fire safety strategy. This game-changer is already fire-safety certified for Switzerland; it isn’t restricted to insiders and, as in nature, imitation is encouraged.