Through the Interface

This week I was supposed to be back in Zurich for a couple of days, visiting the NEST building on Tuesday and the ETH campus on Wednesday. As it was, though, I managed to pick up Covid at last week's TechX event in Atlanta, so I ended up staying at home feeling sorry for myself.

I haven't had particularly bad symptoms, thankfully: neither headaches nor fever, just mainly a heavy cough and a bit of brain fog, both of which are thankfully clearing up now. Given the value of last week's event I'd certainly say that getting it relatively mildly for a few days later was "worth it", at least with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight.

It did mean I had to skip this week's events, though. Luckily my colleague Marta Bouchard from our sustainability team was able to go along and shared some snaps she took for me to post on this blog.

The NEST building – which many of you will recognise either from the Autodesk Gallery or as being the main demo model available inside Dasher – is largely the same as the last time I visited, although the HiLo roof at the top right of the below picture is now complete and open. You can see the Hilo unit at various stages of construction in these three posts.

When Marta shared this picture of the steps going through the NEST atrium, I couldn't help but be reminded of our work with VASA, which we've used to calculate many paths up these stairs.

I've probably shared this sign before, but it's always nice to be reminded of what HiLo stands for: "High Performance, Low Emissions".

The visit included a presentation by Dr Philipp Block. I've met with Dr Block and his team – the Block Research Group (BRG) – a number of times, in the past, and would definitely have liked to have seen this presentation in person.

This video from Empa provides some useful background information about the design and construction of this innovative roof:

Here are some shots showing some of the roof's details:

Here's a quick animation that gives a sense of the structure:

The mezzanine floors have great views across the surrounding area.

I could absolutely see myself working in a space like this!

A huge thank you to Marta for taking these photos and allowing me to share this via this blog. I hope we'll be able to visit the NEST building together in person soon, Marta!