The “InnHub La Punt” initiated by Mia Engiadina is taking on concrete forms. The new center with work, seminar and sports facilities, retail, a restaurant and an underground car park is financed by the private sector and supported by the canton, region and municipality. The world-famous Lord Norman Foster draws as an architect.
Numerous locals and guests from La Punt and the region came to public information about the “InnHub La Punt” project on Friday evening. Work and seminar rooms, serviced apartments, a shop for local products, a new guest information office, a sports and medical center, a café and an underground car park are being built on a good 7,000 square meters.
The aim of the initiators is to bring together the unique quality of Engadin with innovative people and ideas in order to create something new. The InnHub work and seminar rooms are modernly furnished and can be used in smaller or larger units by the hour, day or month. While the construction is financed by investors, the aim is to create a broad-based form of company with a cooperative character, in which locals as well as guests of the village can participate. The municipal council of La Punt Chamues-ch is behind the innovative project.
“We were involved in the clarifications from day one and were able to continuously contribute to the needs of the community, its residents and guests,” said Mayor Jakob Stieger. “For La Punt, it is a stroke of luck that Mia Engiadina brought locals, regulars and the community together. Together, we have developed a project that brings something to everyone in La Punt.”
Great interest from business and education
In addition to locals and classic holiday guests, the offer also appeals to a new type of guest: the work tourists, said co-initiator Caspar Coppetti, a founding partner of running shoe manufacturer On, who lives in La Punt. “These people come to our region and also want to do some of their work here. They need a professional infrastructure and an environment with people who inspire them.”
The offer is met with great interest both locally and nationally: In addition to running shoe manufacturer On, software group Microsoft has also agreed to use the InnHub infrastructure, as Marianne Janik, CEO Microsoft Switzerland, announced: “We are convinced that meeting places such as InnHub La Punt make an important contribution to Switzerland's innovative strength. People increasingly need places where they can work together openly and creatively on new ideas in an inspiring environment. The InnHub La Punt offers ideal conditions for this. We are already looking forward to actively using the offer together with our customers and partners.”
Various universities have expressed their interest in an alpine campus. The Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz also wants to work in InnHub and play an important role in education. Various educational opportunities are to be offered at the interface between innovation and technology.
But exciting synergies are also being created with local companies, such as the new pension “Chesa Dimena” by Sonja Bannwart or the start-up “Alpine Yoga”. To make InnHub a meeting place too, it has a public, central atrium, a shop for local products and a café. “At InnHub, locals and guests should meet 365 days a year, as well as local businesses with national and international companies,” said Jon Erni from Mia Engiadina.
In order to give InnHub a special national and international appearance, the initiators hired a very special architect: The world-famous Wahlengadine Lord Norman Foster designed a building that adopts elements of the Engadin house and the landscape shaped by wind and weather and interprets them in a modern way. The building is being built in close collaboration with Engadine architect Arndt Küchel, who had worked with Foster before.
Large windows and round skylights bring daylight to every part of the building. The central atrium, the café with outdoor space, the guest information and the sports facilities are to become the center of life in La Punt. From the outside, the large but single-storey ensemble appears restrained; it is designed with local materials and covered with larch shingles.
Councillor Marcus Caduff, Head of the Department of Economics and Social Affairs, was pleased with the progress of the project: “The canton supported InnHub La Punt even at a time when the project was still in the development phase. Thanks to the persistence of everyone involved, InnHub has now taken on concrete forms. The persistence of private individuals, companies, the municipality and the canton is paying off. I hope that the people of La Punt will also support the project. It creates jobs and regional added value.”
Rezoning necessary
In order to build the InnHub, some buildings in the Truochs/La Resgia area will have to give way. This includes the YMCA holiday home, which will be closed in the next few years anyway. “We are pleased that, following the closure of our holiday home, something new can be created that is in the interest of the community, further invigorates La Punt and brings new guests,” said CVJM Foundation President Daniel Rietmann. The initiators are now presenting the project to the public, interested parties and companies. They collect the feedback and then develop a detailed construction project.
In order to be able to implement the project, adjustments to the zone and district plan and the granting of a building right by the municipality are necessary. The necessary referendums are passed at a municipal meeting. The district plan is adjusted by the municipal council. The municipal meeting will take place in spring 2019 at the earliest. The planned investment amount amounts to around 40 million francs. It is backed by private investors. Since the center is partly built on municipal plots of land under construction law, this will benefit not only from additional tax revenue but also from interest on building rights.
Without major delays in legal proceedings and with a construction period of around one and a half years, the InnHub could open its doors as early as the end of 2021.
InnHub on the Internet
Chesa Dimena: New bed & breakfast for La Punt
A new bed & breakfast is also being built in the immediate vicinity of InnHub La Punt: the Chesa Diena, a modern but lovely “bed & breakfast”, will offer 44 beds in double rooms, studios and family rooms. “An overnight stay with us should cost less than 100 francs,” says host Sonja Bannwart about the concept. The La Punter entrepreneur supports InnHub, not only because of her own business. “The InnHub will bring guests even during quieter months. That is what we need in Engadin.”
The building permit for the residential and commercial building with the bed & breakfast has already been obtained. Construction is expected to begin next spring. Sonja Bannwart is looking forward to welcoming the first guests to Chesa Diena soon.
personals
Mia Engiadina
Jon Erni, CEO/Program Manager InnHub La Punt
+41 78 844 66 09
jon.erni@miaEngiadina.ch
Municipality of La Punt Chamues-ch
Jakob Stieger, Mayor
+41 79 416 08 82
ja.stieger@bluewin.ch
Christian Gartmann was mandated by the initiators to support the project in public affairs and media relations.