Sustainable by design 2050

Passive Energy Housing Complex "Samer Mösl"

Photographer: sps-architekten zt gmbh

Photographer: sps-architekten zt gmbh

Photographer: sps-architekten zt gmbh

Photographer: Paul Ott

Photographer: Paul Ott

Photographer: Paul Ott

Photographer: Herta Hornaus

Architect

sps-architekten zt gmbh, Arch. DI Simon Speigner, Thalgau, Austria / Europe

Engineers/Specialists

Statics: Nowy & Zorn, Vienna, Austria / Europe, Energy planning: TB Stampfer, Salzburg, Austria / Europe, Electrical engineering: Instaplan, Faistenau, Austria / Europe, Construction physics: Quiring Consultants, Innsbruck, Austria / Europe

Further Specialists

Timber construction: Meiberger Holzbau, Lofer, Austria / Europe

Location

Western Europe - Austria - Salzburg

Climate Zone

temperate

Design status

build

Date of completion

2005

Type

Housing

Site area (m²)

8301

Footprint (m²)

2037

GFA (m²)

6111

NFA (m²)

4495

NFA/GFA

0.736

Density

0.736

Gross Volume (GV) (m³)

19353

Building Costs

6300000 EUR

Building Costs / m² GFA

1030.928

Building Costs / m² NFA

1401.557

Building Costs / m³ GV

325.531

Primary Energy (kWh/m²a)

10

Heating Energy (kWh/m²a)

8

Cooling / Heating-System

The central thermal supply occur by the 200-square metre solar energy plant on the roof in combination with a 22,000 l buffer backed up by a cost-efficient central pellet heating system. A controlled living room ventilation system with an air-to-air heat exchanger in each apartment covers the low residual energy demand for heating and provides rooms with fresh air without energy loss.

Use of renewable ressources - low tech

natural cross ventilation

Use of renewable ressources - high tech

solar heating, energy recuperation, energy storage

Renewable, recycled, recyclable and innovative materials

The buildings were built almost entirely of timber, including even the fire-resistant walls between flats and staircases. This includes the prefabricated floor slabs of cross-laminated timber and about 8.000 square metres of timber frame walls, which are insulated with 36 cm of cellulose. Only the foundations, the basement and the staircase structure were made of reinforced concrete.

Key Sustainability aspects

solar building integration, public spaces, accessability for disabled, renewable building materials, recycling and reuse, ecological building materials, innovative bulding materials, integrated planning process, participation of users in planning process, low cost design, use of innovative design tools

Sustainability rated

Passive House

Social and ethical responsibility

A large proportion of the population of the "Samer Mösl" passive-house estate is made up of people with an immigration background. 60 attractive apartments were built for about 200 residents, primarily people with various ethnic backgrounds and low income. Therefore low building costs were obligatory. A cost guarantee was demanded already during the competition. The total construction costs amounting about 6.3 million euro, we could keep our guarantee. Vehicle traffic remains on the edge of the estate, with the gardens of the ground-floor apartments and the terraces and loggias of the two upper stories being useable without traffic nuisance. Children and pets can spend time between the housing blocks out of harm's way. And the private exterior areas can serve as gardens for self sufficiency.

Ressource efficiency and environmental impact

The ambitions in terms of sustainability, energy efficiency and ressource saving building were not just restricted to the use of wood, a valuable, C02-neutral material that has been unjustly neglected for so long. The complex also has low amounts of soil sealing thanks to the use of planted roofs and the utilisation of rainwater, while the naturally ventilated underground garage has roof lights. A high level of domestic comfort is achieved by the ecological aspects of the construction such as 36 cm of cellulose insulation, "breathing" external walls and oiled wooden floors, as well as triple-glazed timber and aluminium frame Windows and wooden decks at ground floor level. The materials used are totally HFKW-free and apart from the electric cables are PVC-free, all floor coverings, timber materials and coatings are low-emission. The orientation of the buildings ensures sunlight (and therefore solar gains) for every room. This fact is reflected by the similarity of the front and rear facades in contrast to conventional passive houses that generally have closed north facades and large openings on the south front.

Economic lifecycle perfomance

At this projects there were employed basically recyclable, CO2-neutral materials, but no composites.

Contextual performance and impact

"In the course of this project, sps-architekten provided proof of a considerable loss of usable floor space in passive houses compared to conventional buildings due to the well insulated and therefore thicker external walls. We could achieve a change in building laws in this point. Thus in passive house projects in Salzburg it has been permitted since 2005 to increase the FSR (floor-space ratio) by 5%. This success makes sustainable housing attractive to communal developers and confirms us in our ideals to find innovative and lasting solutions in architecture.
The project "Samer Mösl" was at date of construction Austria's largest multi-storey timber built passive house residential complex. It was a showcase building project, that didn't exist in that way before, and could be realized with housing subsidies. For these reasons it generated a lot of attention national as well as international and won many awards."