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21.05.2021 | Building Technology | Reading-time: 2 min

Pirmin Jung awarded Swiss architecture prize

Rain LU/Sursee LU - Pirmin Jung has won this year’s Arc Award. The engineering firm with a focus on wood construction, fire protection and structural physics has received the Swiss architecture prize for the digital planning with integrated construction data modelling processes of its new, sustainable company headquarters located in Sursee.

The jury of the Arc Award, a renowned Swiss architecture prize, has recognized the largely digital planning processes behind the new company headquarters of Pirmin Jung. “It’s a really impressive submission, to the point and incredibly convincing”, comments jury president Birgitta Schock in a company press release. She describes the project planning as an “excellent example of collaboration and process optimization”.

Pirmin Jung typically acts as a specialist planner for wood-based construction projects. However, the company took on the role of developer for the construction of the House of Wood. It used this opportunity to implement Building Information Modeling (BIM) in an innovative, future-oriented manner, according to jury member Martin A. Fischer, Professor for Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University (California, USA) and Director of the Center for Integrated Facility Engineering. The team devised a project system to replace the usual project hierarchy. “This creates a climate of solidarity within the project team”, while the system of rules created must “become the standard for all project documentation”.

“This brings us great joy”, says CEO Pirmin Jung in the press release. He adds: “The House of Wood project is the result of a real team effort. In terms of the next step, we are excited to transfer the (digital) project to the construction site and continue building work together with the contractors up until summer 2022 when the building will be ready for us to move in – without any plans, solely working with the BIM model”.

The overarching objective of the architect Marc Syfrig and the developer Pirmin Jung is to become a pioneer and role model to demonstrate how construction projects with a focus on environmental and climate protection could be realized in future. In total, 80 percent of the building has been earmarked for office space and commercial activities, with the rest set aside for housing. Around 100 jobs are to be created here, half of which will be at Pirmin Jung. Construction got underway in January 2021, and the company plans to move from its current headquarters in Rain to the new premises in Sursee in the canton of Lucerne by April 2022.

 

 

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