science

Swissmill Tower

Swissmill Tower is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Swissmill Tower rather than just read about it. In short: The Swissmill Tower, also known as Kornhaus, is the tallest operating grain elevator in the world. Standing at 118 metres (387 ft), it is the second-tallest building in the Swiss city of Zürich.

Key takeaways

Swissmill Tower belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Swissmill Tower to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Swissmill Tower from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Swissmill Tower, also known as Kornhaus, is the tallest operating grain elevator in the world. Standing at 118 metres (387 ft), it is the second-tallest building in the Swiss city of Zürich.

History and description The Swissmill Tower is a grain elevator close to Limmatplatz in Zürich. 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 45 metres (148 ft) in the bedrock of the Limmat Valley. The increase of its height to 118 metres (387 ft) 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.

Significance At 118 metres (387 ft), the Swissmill Tower is the tallest operating grain elevator in the world. The second tallest, the Schapfen Mill Tower in Ulm, Germany, is 115 metres (377 ft) tall excluding the antenna. The tallest grain elevator ever constructed, the Henninger Turm, stood 120 metres (394 ft) and was demolished in 2013. The Swissmill Tower can store 40,000 tonnes of grain. 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, 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

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Swissmill Tower

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Swissmill Tower claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Swissmill Tower before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Swissmill Tower ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Swissmill Tower

In research: Swissmill Tower appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Swissmill Tower in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Swissmill Tower is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2016 establishments in Switzerland, 21st-century architecture in Switzerland, Agricultural buildings in Switzerland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Swissmill Tower outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Swissmill Tower in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Swissmill Tower means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Swissmill Tower out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Swissmill Tower in simple terms?

The Swissmill Tower, also known as Kornhaus, is the tallest operating grain elevator in the world. Standing at 118 metres (387 ft), it is the second-tallest building in the Swiss city of Zürich.

Why does Swissmill Tower matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Swissmill Tower?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Swissmill Tower.