The University of Liechtenstein participated in the 2nd Clay Building Symposium «Clay Connects – Tradition Meets Innovation» in Chur with several expert presentations, student projects and an excursion. The symposium brought together experts from architecture, research and construction practice and focused on current issues related to building with clay.

Martin Mackowitz, Senior Lecturer at the Liechtenstein School of Architecture and head of the University of Liechtenstein’s earth HUB, gave a presentation together with Flurina Seger from the Hilti Family Foundation entitled «Building Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis». The lecture explored how timber-clay systems can contribute to resource-efficient and circular construction methods. Among other topics, industrial timber-clay systems as well as international collaborations and knowledge networks in the field of sustainable construction were presented.

As part of the combined presentations, lecturers Cornelia Faisst and Martin Mackowitz together with Master’s student Antonia Trager presented the earth HUB research project «Lehmraum Liechtenstein». The project investigates how local earth resources from the Rhine Valley can be applied in research, teaching and building practice. Its aim is to further develop regional and circular construction methods and explore new applications for clay in contemporary timber construction.

Professor of Practice Anna Heringer spoke in her lecture «Beauty = Sustainability» about her approach to resource-conscious architecture and the relationship between design, materials and social responsibility.

Honorary doctorate recipient and clay building pioneer Martin Rauch dedicated his keynote lecture to the question of how clay construction in Switzerland can be scaled from pioneering work to widespread application.

The symposium also included an excursion to the rammed earth building «Gässlihus» in Grabs (SG), a project by Lecturers of Practice Timothy Allen and Ronan Crippa. The approximately 400-year-old timber farmhouse was relocated and rebuilt. The historic structure is complemented by a new rammed earth extension designed for communal use.

Students from the University of Liechtenstein also contributed to the symposium’s poster exhibition. Franz-Felix Juen and Jonas Pfister presented their work on structural solutions for hybrid timber-clay construction, focusing on material-appropriate connection details and building physics.

Under the title «Material Instead of Surface: Design Potentials in Hybrid Clay-Timber Construction», Zäzilia Maria Frager explored how clay can shape spatial atmosphere and architectural experience as a defining material.

With their project «Circularity in the Base Area – Re-use Concrete Foundations and Sealing with Clay», Boris Dobrinic and Otto Schlosser investigated sustainable alternatives to conventional foundation and sealing systems.

The contributions presented at the symposium emerged from the context of the University of Liechtenstein’s earth HUB, which focuses on regenerative materials, circular construction methods and new approaches to resource-conscious architecture in research, teaching and practice.

More information about the University of Liechtenstein’s earth HUB.