NEST is an infrastructural building in Dübendorf Switzerland, designed to facilitate the implementation of building technology experiments. At the same time it is a guest house where EMPA visitors and researchers can be housed flexibly and centrally. NEST consists of a central «backbone» and three open platforms, where individual research and innovation modules can be installed based on the «plug-and-play» principle.

Gramazio Kohler Architects shape spatial relationships and contextual behavior through programming. They use the potential of the computer and digital fabrication complementary to traditional design or conventional construction methods. 

EMPA and Annette Douglas Textiles developed in a CTI research project the first translucent acoustic fabric collection, the «Silent Space Collection» by Annette Douglas Textiles ACOUSTICS^®. The NEST project offers a nice platform, to show the innovation in the application. The acoustic curtain STREAMER pro (aw 0.8) is mounted in the lobby at the reception, in the meeting rooms and guest rooms. The acoustic curtains are transparent and highly efficient.

_{Gramazio Kohler Architects Zurich
© Foto Roman Keller
www.empa.ch/web/nest/aboutnest}