On 6 June 2019 in the KKL Lucerne, the Building Award was presented for the third time. A total of 21 projects had been nominated. In the category "Research and Development", two Empa projects – NEST and memory-steel – were shortlisted by the jury. In the end, the award went to the modular research and innovation building NEST, which Empa has been operating together with Eawag in Dübendorf since 2016. NEST offers both research and industry a platform, on which new ideas can be implemented, validated and further developed in a real-world environment. "NEST has convinced us through and through," said jury member Patrick Hofer-Noser in his laudatory speech. Since in today's building industry the focus is still too often on the tried and tested it is crucial to have a place where innovations can be tested and experienced, he added. In front of full ranks in KKL's Lucerne Hall Peter Richner, Deputy CEO of Empa, and Eawag representative Carina Doll accepted the award on behalf of the project team.