Baukader Award goes to Vision Wood

Cadre d’Or for Empa wood researchers

Nov 8, 2017 | CORNELIA ZOGG

Last week, Baukader Schweiz presented the Cadre d'Or for outstanding achievements in the field of wood construction in Switzerland. The Silver Award went to the two Empa researchers, Tanja Zimmermann and Ingo Burgert, for the Vision Wood NEST unit.

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The winners of the Cadre d'Or in the field of wood construction with Tanja Zimmermann and Ingo Burgert on the right

Every two years, Baukader Schweiz presents the Cadre d'Or, which was launched in 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of this Swiss construction industry association. This award is presented to individuals, companies or organisations that have made a contribution to the Swiss construction industry with their work. This year, the organisation again awarded prizes in the four categories of construction instructor, construction champion, wood construction and construction newcomer. The Gold Award for wood construction went to Enrico Uffer from Uffer AG this year. Tanja Zimmermann and Ingo Burgert from Empa received the Silver Award for second place.

Zimmermann and Burgert are leading the Vision Wood project in the NEST building on the Empa campus in Dübendorf and are researching new functions for wood, such as antimicrobial wood and hydrophobic - i.e. water-repellent - wood, as well as magnetisable wood. With these new properties, the researchers are expanding the range of wood applications in the construction sector and helping to replace energy-intensive materials with a renewable resource.

Pictures from the prize ceremony
Further information

Dr. Tanja Zimmermann
Department of Functional Materials / Member of the Empa Board of Directors
Phone +41 58 765 41 15

Prof. Dr. Ingo Burgert
Applied Wood Materials
Phone +41 58 765 4434


Editor / Media contact
Cornelia Zogg
Communication
Phone +41 58 765 45 99