Traditionally in autumn – with the end of the year already in sight – we go on a retreat. A withdrawal from everyday office life, an undisturbed retrospective, plans for the future, workshops, team building. Last Friday, this year’s office retreat took us to the Attisholz site in Riedholz. The location could not have been chosen more ideally, as the autumn grey was outshone by the graffiti-coloured scenery, the backdrop of the former cellulose factory gave us the opportunity to engage with industrial and architectural history, and we were able to help shape the future of the site.
The day started in event room 65A with the traditional review of office and project activities in 2023 and a look ahead to the coming year, immediately followed by exciting announcements from our digital working group. This was followed by a presentation on the eventful history, present and future of the old factory complex, which opened with a tour of the site. Our three guides had a hard time keeping the groups together, as amateur photographers kept swarming out, fascinated by the ever new and surprising perspectives that the site reveals. We structural engineers also gained an impressive insight into the requirements and dimensions of industrial construction, some of which differed greatly from our tasks.