Switzerland: Shielded Buildings to Protect Electrohypersensitive People

Shielded buildings to protect electro-hypersensitive people
rts.ch, 14 Feb. 2021 - translation

(Video: ) Fribourg architect Gédéon Abebe has decided to create armored buildings for people with electrosensitivity /7:30 p.m. /2 min.

 

Electro-hypersensitivity (EHS) would be a reality for 800,000 people in Switzerland, according to associations that campaign for recognition of this sickness. Faced with this important figure, a market is developing, particularly in real estate.

After eight years of fleeing electromagnetic fields, the Rouiller couple found their respite in Maison Monsieur, a hamlet in Lime de Fonnier that still escapes the Swiss cell phone network today.

"The heart stops if I receive too many radio waves, I start shaking terribly or I get dizzy. We have been looking for years for a place where there are still no waves, no antennas, and we found it here. It allows me to survive", says Diana Rouiller, electro-hypersensitive, in the 19h30 news.

Shielded buildings

With the advent of 5G and a rate of coverage of the territory now almost total, the quest for so-called white areas like Maison Monsieur is increasingly complex.

In Schmitten (FR), architect Gédéon Abebe decided to reverse the paradigm and create three shielded buildings to protect residents from outside radiation.

"One of the factors is this carbon-based shielding paint. We favor conductive materials with excellent grounding to reduce these electromagnetic fields," he explains.

Apart from a building for chemical-sensitive people in Zurich, these are the first structures of this type in Switzerland. Innovative technologies such as wire mesh and the demagnetization of concrete slabs had to be mastered. Above all, it was necessary to ensure their efficiency.

"A lot of people are involved".

According to engineer Pierre Dubochet, these buildings can reduce mobile telephony signals by about 300 times. "The ideal, once the construction site is completed, is to achieve between 1000 and 3000 times power attenuation," he stresses.

Despite a total additional cost of 10 to 15%, the real estate developer Alain Deschenaux was seduced by this emerging market.

"Initially, the goal is to see if the system works, because there is no rule as in ecology or energy. It is also necessary to make sure that the market responds, but in our analysis we realized that many people are concerned by this problem," says the promoter.

Noémie Guignard/gma

Original article in French:
https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/11964708-des-immeubles-blindes-pour-proteger-les-electrohypersensibles.html