Alumni excursion to ETH Hönggerberg and Mulegns/GR
Four people, including three ETH graduates and a guest, came together for an exciting discussion.
ETH Hönggerberg:
After the introduction by Professor Benjamin Dillenburger (video conference), we were given a tour of the halls of the Robotic Fabrication Laboratory (RFL) by Tobias Hartmann:
The laboratory hall has been in operation since 2016 and houses four ceiling-supported robots and one floor-supported one on crawlers.
Mortar nozzles are used to create molds that make formwork superfluous. As with whipped cream on cakes, the material is applied in layers in predetermined geometric shapes so that the bond between the individual layers is guaranteed and the cast structure immediately has the necessary stability.
The support elements of the Mulegns tower are also manufactured, transported, temporarily stored and assembled in the same way. Material and statics are thus optimized. The ETH and ETH engineers contributed significantly to the realization.
Mulegns/GR:
The subsequent journey from Hönggerberg by train and post bus led us from Chur via Lenzerheide into the Albula Valley and on via Savognin to Mulegns.
The Origen Tower stands in the middle of the village surrounded by once stately houses built by returnees in their homeland. These are now being carefully renovated by the foundation and given a new lease of life.
The finished tower looks like a wedding cake made by skilled confectioners, except that these white merengue-like pillar elements were made in the RFL. The Origen Foundation is using new technology to combine the art of building with a lot of history and hopes to bring more life to this mountain region.
Before the Albula line of the RhB was opened around 1903, Mulegns and the Post Hotel Löwe experienced a heyday. Coachmen changed horses and travelers stayed overnight with the innkeepers (Donata Willi and her mother), who were well known beyond the Surses valley, and enjoyed their meals. When the traffic flow was then routed over the Albula, the army and construction workers of the Marmorera reservoir jumped into the gap.
The highwaymen disappeared and the valley gradually became quieter. What remained was the steadily growing volume of private traffic over the Julier Pass and through the narrow gorges of Mulegns. Traces of road collisions can still be seen on buildings today. Now that the "White House" has been painstakingly moved, including the oven in the cellar, the flow of traffic is no longer restricted. When I heard the name of the builder (Jean Jegher), I remembered that my UR-UR-great-grandfather was also a confectioner and returned to his homeland (Schanfigg) at the age of 42, got married and fathered 11 more children. The same ancestor is partly responsible for the fact that Jürg Conzett, ETH engineer, was able to work on the tower project. Giovanni Bonavia's grandparents, farmers in Susch, were also able to hay the fields in Marmorera around 1950 before the valley was flooded.
Some tourists stop in front of the telegraph house and revive the hope that things are looking up again in Mulegns. In any case, the hotel in the village was fully booked, so we had to stay in nearby Sur and Riom.
Today, 12 people still live in Mulegns and the number is decreasing. It remains to be seen to what extent the villagers will go along with the development. The success of the Origen project will only become apparent in the long term.
The foundation set up by Giovanni Netzer is breathing new life into the valley and combining old with new in the renovated buildings.
The fact that it is in constant need of funds and donations is evident everywhere.
external page www.origen.ch; SRF bi de Lüt "Our village"
Linard Candreia: Back to Marmorera
Many thanks to the two people who guided us, especially Andrea Bösch and everyone who made this special experience possible.
Giovanni Bonavia had the idea and the organization and thus enriched us with unforgettable experiences.