The Swissmill Tower, also known as Kornhaus, is the tallest operating grain elevator in the world. Standing at , it is the second tallest building in the Swiss city of

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

History and description

The Swissmill Tower is a grain elevator close to ''Limmatplatz'' in

. It was built near the Migros Tower, replacing a former grain elevator after the city voted in favor of building a larger silo. The original mill (''Kornhaus'') was built in 1843 on the same site. The site required piles built to a depth of in the bedrock of the

Limmat Valley The Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'') is a river valley and a region in the cantons of Zürich and Aargau in Switzerland. Geography The Limmat () is a long river located in the cantons of Zürich (ZH) and Aargau (AG). It is the co ...

. The increase of its height to was done by slipforming. This required as many as 60 construction workers processing concrete in three shifts around the clock. The construction took place in two stages. The first phase was completed in early July 2015. The second began in September 2015, and end in April 2016. Mill operations continued during construction. The works were carried out by Implenia. Adlisberg - Pfannenstiel - Zürichsee - Albis-Zimmerberg - Zürich-City - Limmattal - Käferberg-Waidspital 2016-05-17 19-13-55.JPG, Location of the Swissmill Tower in the upper

as seen from

Käferberg Käferberg (el. ) and Waidberg (el. ) are the summits of a wooded mountain respectively chain of hills overlooking the inner city of Zürich, Zürichsee, Albis chain and Uetliberg, as well as the Limmat Valley and the Zürcher Unterland in Sw ...

Limmat - Swissmill Tower Zürich & Migros-Hochhaus - Käferberg-Waidspital 2016-05-17 19-07-02.JPG,

Significance

At , the Swissmill Tower is the tallest operating grain elevator in the world. The second tallest, the Schapfen Mill Tower in

Ulm, Germany Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

, is tall excluding the antenna. The tallest grain elevator ever constructed, the Henninger Turm, stood and was demolished in 2013. The Swissmill Tower can store 40,000 tonnes of grain."La « La tour-silo » de Zurich"
(page visited on 22 March 2020). Swissmill is the largest mill company in Switzerland, processing 800 tons of grain daily. This represents 30% of the Swiss national grain requirements. It supplies flour for Swiss retailers

Coop Coop, COOP, Co-op, or ''variation'', most often refers to: * A chicken coop or other enclosure * Cooperative or co-operative ("co-op"), an association of persons who cooperate for their mutual social, economic, and cultural benefit ** Housing ...

, Volg and Landi. Critics have said the silo's exterior and height are overly industrial. However, municipal authorities say that the silo was intentionally designed in that way. Its external appearance is intended to express its interior – an industrial plant. In July 2016, there was a proposal to cover the tower's exterior with plants, in response to a request by Zürich politicians to redo the facade. Architect Miriam Vázquez suggested this during the planning phase, but later deemed it too expensive.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Swissmill Tower Towers in Switzerland Commercial buildings completed in 2016 2016 establishments in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Zürich Grain elevators Agricultural buildings in Switzerland