New Kernser gourmet mushroom facility wins Building Award 2019

Measuring around 10,000 square meters, the new facility at the Rossfang site in the municipality of Kerns (Canton of Obwalden) was built for Kernser Edelpilze GmbH in only nine months. The energy and indoor-climate concept for the building would prove to be the key to success given the producer’s intention to grow numerous varieties of gourmet mushrooms, including shimeji, shiitake, nameko, pom-pom frisée and oyster.

No existing prototypes, blueprints or key data

A sophisticated building-services concept was the key to the project’s success. The producer’s wish to secure carbon-neutral substrate and gourmet mushroom production added an additional layer of complexity.

From the outset, we had no access to existing prototypes, blueprints, key data or scientific literature offering a precise and succinct account of how gourmet mushrooms can be professionally grown on a large scale. Indeed, EBP first needed to work in close consultation with the producer and its planning team to define the basic specifications.

Energy efficiency, simple and robust solutions

The EBP planning team developed an energy and indoor-climate concept that accounted for the relevant air-quality and thermodynamic factors and that was also optimally aligned to the environmental conditions at the building site. In doing so, the team adhered to strict specifications, including a high degree of energy efficiency, excellent component quality and simple, robust design solutions. Thanks to the new indoor-climate concept, the grower has been able to more than double its mushroom production since the project’s completion, with the yield per ton of substrate ranging up to 250 kg of gourmet mushrooms. It’s no wonder that the world-class design won the Overall Winner Building Award 2019!