Netto-Null-Miniaturhaus DE EN

Zurich Binz / Alt-Wiedikon

Net zero, at your hands — through a Regenerative Approach.

A small walk-in pavilion, a house in miniature. Children, young people and families build it layer by layer alongside specialists - and discover with all their senses where building material comes from and where it returns.

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Children tread earth and straw into a mixture with bare feet
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What it is about

In building, earth and straw are often called «primitive», although many regions built with  them for centuries. What has often been lost is less the technical knowledge than the continuity: local supply chains and the craft knowledge that was embedded in them.

A playground cannot rebuild those. But it can be a place to experience the materials and meet the people that work with them - a basis for breaking down reservations among adults and in the construction industry too.

Instead of complex calculations, children and families experience first-hand what insulation, passive energy use, circular thinking and resource conservation actually mean. The claim stays deliberately modest: the house shows principles at human scale.

25 %

of the City of Zurich's total greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings: heat supply, construction activity and electricity supply.

City of Zurich, Klimaschutzplan 2025 (base year 2022)

37 %

of annual global energy and process-related CO2 emissions come from the construction sector.

UNEP, Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2024 (2022 data)

13

months from material research to open documentation.

The materials

What matters is the path, not the material itself. We map what the region offers and follow each material back: who grows or extracts it, how it is processed, what is added to it, and where it can go at the end. Earth, straw, hemp and timber are candidates we expect. The mapping will confirm or reject them.

Close-up of a rammed earth wall with visible pebbles and layer joints

Earth

Excavated earth from the region. The binders we choose decide whether it can return to the ground at the end.

Two people sieve plant fibres through a round wooden sieve

Fibres: straw and hemp

Straw and hemp shives, co-products of regional farming, if the regions offers them. As bales, fills or lightweight mixes the insulate. Co-products come before anything newly grown or extracted.

A hand applies earth plaster by hand onto a lattice of poles and straw

Timber

Wood, as regional as the mapping allows. We prioritize short lengths and small sections that  children can carry and place themselves. The structure stays with the specialists.

Children mix earth and straw barefoot while straw is poured onto the mixture from a bucket
Cob: mixing earth and straw by foot.

The process in five phases

Planned over 13 months from December 2026. The start date depends on clarifying the site and the funding.

  1. 01 Dec 26 – Feb 27 Material & actorsMapping and identifying materials, co-products and 
    the people who work with them.
    Visiting and connecting local actors. 
  2. 02 Jan 27 – Mar 27 Framing & site Sharpening the concept.
    Exploring funding and partnerships.
    Securing the site with the City and obtaining the permits.
  3. 03 Jan 27 – Apr 27 Prototyping and mock-upWorking through the matrix component by component
    (structure, roofing, walls, insulation, finishes).
    Testing samples and prototypes of the candidate materials.
    Building a mockup.
  4. 04 Mar 27 – Sep 27 Building workshops Worshop sessions with families and children: building the Miniaturhouse and taking it apart again.
  5. 05 Jun 27 – Dec 27 Documentation and transfer Publishing the mapping, build sequence and workshop format openly. 

Hands-on approach

Open workshops for families and school classes. No experience needed
- tools, material and guidance provided on site.

Dates and registration

Open documentation

The structure may be ephemeral — what remains is the method. Mix ratios, test results, sources and supplier contacts, as well as the build sequence are published openly, so that other neighbourhoods, schools and playgrounds can adapt them to their own educational programmes.

Material mapping

Map, matrix and criteria sheet of the material paths in the region.

From February 2027

Workshop format

Programme, materials and build sequence to adapt to your own place.

From September 2027

In the press

All press coverage
Tages-Anzeiger Zurich picks 25 climate ideas for the pilot neighbourhood Out of 233 submitted proposals, the city selected the ideas to be developed further — among them the Netto-Null-Miniaturhaus.