Client

Genossenschaft Migros Zürich

Architect / General planner

Itten+Brechbühl AG

Construction management

Itten+Brechbühl AG

Planning

2018 - 2021

Start of construction

Juli 2020

Start of operation

Juli 2021

Floor area

6 400 m2

Construction volume

32 500 m3

Parking spaces

118

Sustainability certificate

Minergie

Photos

Carlos Crespo

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Reichenburg, Switzerland

Migros

Client Cooperative Migros Zurich
Direct comission 2018
Planning / Construction 2018-2021
Services provided by IB
  • General Planning
  • Architecture
Architecture Itten+Brechbühl AG
General planning Itten+Brechbühl AG
Surface area 6'400 m2
Construction volume 32'500 m3

With the superordinate aim of developing a reference project for the supermarket typology, a new construction was realized by the Cooperative Migros Zurich (Genossenschaft Migros Zürich, GMZ) – affiliated to the Federation of Migros Cooperatives – in Reichenburg (Canton of Schwyz) within one year.

IB designed a structure that gives the retailer maximum flexibility, while adhering to the strict requirements profile of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives. Thanks to a timber framework using 1.8-meter-long timbers with a correspondingly large span, it was possible to reduce the number of columns to three, which is a reduction of 80% compared to other new Migros constructions. The accessible structure of timber framing is furthermore ideal for adapting cable and pipe routing to changes in the supermarket organizational layout.

The functional building is clad in a rear-ventilated, slightly reflective, milky-transparent polycarbonate façade, which blends in with both the established industrial area and the surrounding natural landscape.

While the underground parking area in the basement, the columns, and the load-bearing walls on the ground floor are of solid construction, lightweight construction methods were used for the partition walls, the ceiling of the ground floor, and the upper floor. A shorter construction time was achieved by the combination of solid and lightweight construction, a modular building system, and optimization of the supermarket typology. Assembly of the new system only requires three steps (concrete columns, timber framework as primary supporting structure, timber coffered ceiling as secondary supporting structure), while the old system needed four assembly steps (timber columns, primary timber beams, secondary timber beams, timber coffered ceiling as second part of the secondary supporting structure).

The high degree of prefabrication makes it possible to reuse individual elements at the end of the life cycle of a Migros outlet, thus contributing to a partial circularity. A photovoltaic system on the flat roof covers 55% of the new building's electricity requirements at any one time.

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