Done somewhere CAL-02

Quiet homes

Geneva in 2061

In 2061, every home in Geneva is a place of rest. Walls and floors made of natural materials such as hempcrete, solid wood, straw and wood fibre keep out the noise of the street and the neighbours, keep homes warm in winter and cool in summer, and regulate the humidity. Inside, clay plaster regulates the humidity. Bedrooms face the quiet side of the building, and wardrobes and bookshelves add a further layer of calm. Silence at home is no longer a luxury, but the norm.

It is wonderful here, so beautiful, calm, and romantic…Grooters, Book 1, Part 16 "2061"

Geneva today

One person in ten in Switzerland is exposed to excessive traffic noise at home

Ninety per cent of them live in cities and agglomerations, and road traffic is the main cause. In Geneva alone, about 120,000 people live with road traffic noise above federal limits (see Quiet streets).

Source: Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), noise theme page (2025)

More and more people complain about noise around their homes, from sports facilities and restaurant terraces to barking dogs (same source).
Road traffic noise causes external costs of about CHF 2 billion a year in Switzerland (same source).

Where it is already done

IsoHemp (Belgium) has made hempcrete blocks from hemp, lime and water since 2012, for new buildings and renovations alike, including a listed 17th-century building in Versailles. Depending on their thickness, the blocks reduce noise by 37 to 45 decibels, resist fire for 45 to 240 minutes, and regulate temperature and humidity. In 2025, the company opened the world’s first hempcrete recycling line.
Thoma (Austria) builds houses from solid wood held together only by wooden dowels, without glue or metal. The walls are fire-resistant for up to 120 minutes, and the company offers sound insulation well beyond the legal standard. A seven-storey hotel built with the system was erected and ready for use in three months.
EcoCocon (Slovakia) makes prefabricated wall panels of compressed straw in a timber frame, from 98% natural materials, with straw from farms within 40 km of its factory. A 40 cm wall reaches Passive House insulation levels, blocks 54 decibels of airborne sound, and, with an interior clay plaster that regulates humidity, resists fire for 120 minutes.

A Pattern Language

Related patterns from the book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander and colleagues (1977), a classic of architecture and town planning.

127 Intimacy Gradient: Alexander and his colleagues argue that the rooms of a building should be arranged in a sequence from the most public, near the entrance, to the most private, such as bedrooms, at the far end. Placed this way, the bedrooms are naturally the quietest rooms.

How far along

Done somewhere A city or country already does it. Geneva only needs to adapt it.

The path to 2061

Milestones proposed for discussion.

2027Geneva publishes a guide to quiet homes, and every building permit shows which rooms face the noisy side.
2031New homes have their bedrooms on the quiet side, and renovation subsidies cover sound insulation as well as thermal insulation, favouring natural materials.
2041Hempcrete, solid wood, straw and wood-fibre insulation are standard building materials in Geneva, produced within a few hundred kilometres.
2051Most existing buildings have been renovated with soundproof natural materials; complaints about neighbours’ noise have become rare.
2061Every home in Geneva is a place of rest.

What moves it

LawInvestmentTechnology

Human needs it serves

Rest / sleepPhysical well-beingShelterPhysical well-beingSpaceAutonomyEasePeace

Open questions

How can apartment buildings become truly quiet between neighbours, when bass and footsteps travel through floors and walls?
How can natural building materials become as affordable as concrete and brick?
Should sound insulation become a requirement in every renovation, as thermal insulation increasingly is?

The author’s view

Natural construction materials such as hempcrete, solid wood and straw do much more than keep the cold out: they regulate humidity and temperature, so the walls literally breathe, like cotton clothes compared with polyester. Many of them are also excellent at blocking noise. Straw bale houses are good examples too: their walls are thick, but modern prefabricated straw panels now combine excellent insulation, sound protection and fire safety in a single wall.

The layout matters just as much as the walls: bedrooms should never face a busy street, so that other rooms act as a buffer. And there are simple tricks anyone can use: a wardrobe full of clothes or a bookshelf full of books against a shared wall blocks a surprising amount of noise from the neighbours.

In dense cities, neighbours are more likely to disturb each other, so apartment buildings need to be very well insulated. Yet a dense, traffic-free city centre can be far quieter than a suburb full of cars.

Henrik Hillerström

Sources

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