Heritage Days, «Architectural History»

The European Monuments Days, which will take place in Switzerland on 13 and 14 September 2025, are dedicated to historical and contemporary “architectural history”.

ETH architect Cilgia Salzgeber presents her project “Balcun tort” at the Museum Engiadinais.

How can the character of a historical site be built on without distorting it?

The Chesa Gregori in Zuoz: the interface between the dense village centre and more recent, landscape-oriented buildings, provides the testing ground.

A “balcun tort”, the only building block of the Engadine houses that has always pointed demonstratively outwards and linked social visual axes, is being rethought here. The 1:1 model for the design was CNC-milled in S-Chanf from scrap wood and manufactured without glue or metal. Traditional carpentry joints meet digital fabrication; algorithmically varied ornaments abstract local ornamental motifs, each component is unique.

In this way, the project combines monument preservation with modern recycling management: it rehabilitates the lost dialogue between interior and exterior space, village and landscape, past and present, and in the research work also planning, design and construction, and shows how Engadine craftsmanship tradition can be continued using digital tools without losing its core.

For more information on the event, please contact the museum.