KOECHLIN R

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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23.4.1903 Paris/F - 29.7.1994 Genève/CH

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Raymond Koechlin, a son of René (1866-1951), graduated as a civil engineer from Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule ETH in Zurich. In 1925 he joined dam works in Italy and from 1928 to 1941 he was in charge of the Rhine River barrage in Kembs and the pumping power plant Lac Blanc/Lac Noir in the Vosges. The Koechlin family moved in 1941 to Switzerland. Raymond became a collaborator of the Zschokke engineering office in Geneva founded in 1872 by Conradin Zschokke (1842-1918). Koechlin and some partners were able to redevelop Zschokke within few years to a prosperous company. When retiring in 1973 he headed the board of directors. He was awarded Honorary Director of Zschokke Engineering in 1980.

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During his stay in the Alsace, Koechlin supported his father in the design and in the execution of the first stage of the Grand Canal d'Alsace hydropower scheme. He there also contributed to the book series of his father on the mechanism of glaciers, published in 1944. Raymond Koechlin may be considered the re-founder of Zschokke SA in the 1940s, because this company almost saw its end after the terrible world economical crisis in the 1930s. After first works in Switzerland, including the execution of the Rupperswil-Auenstein Aare River power plant in the 1940s, the company expanded in the 1950s all over Europe and founded branch offices, which were united in 1964 to the Zschokke Holding. This company specialized in foundation works and engineering of dams, of which the Rossens Dam in Fribourg Canton deserves particular attention. Earlier, the Swiss hydropower plants of Lavey close to Lake Geneva on the Rhone River, and Birsfelden, Rheinau, Schaffhausen and Säckingen on the Rhine River had been executed. Zschokke thus counted among the large construction companies that added considerably to the development of hydropower supply in Central Europe.

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_{Anonymous (1974). Raymond Koechlin. Persönlichkeiten Europas: Schweiz: n/p. Iatas: Stans-Stad. P}

_{Bruttin, J.F. (1951). L'aménagement hydro-électrique de Rossens-Hauterive après deux ans d'expérience. Bulletin Technique de la Suisse Romande 77(6): 69-85.}

_{Herzig, C.J. (1949). Le barrage de Rossens et l'aménagement hydro-électrique de la Vallée de la Basse Gruyère. Technique des Travaux 25(1): 27-45.}

_{Knoblauch, P. (1994). Raymond Koechlin. Allô Zschokke (173): 38-39. P}

_{Koechlin, B. (2004). Raymond Koechlin. Personal communication. P}

_{Koechlin, R., Koechlin, R. (1944). Les glaciers et leur mécanisme. Rouge: Lausanne.}