town town erdberg, vienna by coop himmelb(l)au
all images © isochrom.com

for their project town town erdberg, austrian firm coop himmelb(l)au will receive
the sustainability award for the 2010 MIPIM architectural review future project awards.

the intention of developing the office high-rise town town erdberg was to generate
a building which correlates to the principle 'aesthetics of sustainability'. through an
energy active facade and an integrated wind turbine the building is producing more
energy than it is actually consuming.

'according to that, town town erdberg is not a passive house but an active house,' -
wolf d. prix, design principal and CEO of coop himmelb(l)au.

marking the gateway to vienna towards the east, the town town office tower in erdberg
is the main element of a developing urban zone.

its location directly on the subway line and in proximity to the highway to the airport
connects the project ideally to the city; with regard to urban development guidelines
this offers the opportunity for a distinctive architectonic form.

by combining two typologies (high rise slab and cylindrical tower) and with a cleverly
positioned central circulation and access core as 'hinge', the building achieves a very high
efficiency. the proportion of net usable floor area to gross floor area is 86% in contrast
to 82% in a conventional building.

the shape of the high rise is also optimized for the implementation of an integrated
and energy-active building system, which explains its excellent performance in terms
of sustainability.

the crystalline forms of the metallic skin were developed in simulations of dynamic wind
forces in order to be radar compatible and climatically, acoustically and functionally optimized.
the skin envelopes both the slab and the tower, thus merging them into a single hybrid form.



through the main entrance from the plaza the visitors step into a multi-level lobby
as communication zone with a flight of stairs, which lead to the semi-public areas
like the café, event spaces as well as special areas including the double height conference
area.

further special areas like the canteen and the IT center can be reached via the two elevator
groups, which also connect to the standard floors with offices: one group with four elevators
accesses the first 16 floors of the high rise, the other group with three elevators is reserved
for the floors 16 to 26.

on the 16th floor at 70m of height - at the joint of slab and tower - the sky lobby with roof
terraces, and on the 26th floor at 105m of height the two story sky lounge with a gallery
are situated. both areas serve as communication zones and offer internal meeting areas with
a panoramic view towards the landscape of the danube in the east and the urban landscape
of vienna.

supply and disposal for maintenance of the building is provided for on level N-2 via
a private street, which is only used by the town town complex. in the two basement levels
the server and other technical spaces, archives, and storage rooms are situated.



the notion of sustainability has become a new paradigm for technological progress,
and as a consequence all efforts concentrate on reducing the consumption of non-renewable
fossil fuels in the construction and maintenance of buildings. behind the concept of a high
rise with an energy-active building system lies the ambition of an energy efficient,
environmentally intelligent building design, with the aim of introducing both proven
and innovative low energy consumption systems, environmental control systems, and newly
developed energy harvesting systems, and at the same time to enhance the user comfort.
this reduces the necessary investment in building technology and decreases the maintenance
costs.

all office spaces of the thermo-active building can be naturally ventilated through operable
windows as well as by optimization of the climatic skin; district heating is used for
additional displacement ventilation.



essentially, the tower façade consists of folded sheet metal elements. both the façades
of the slab and the tower are composed of external façade elements, which are mounted
at varying angles in front of the standard façade behind, which is fitted with fixed
and operable elements. the outer skins of the lobby at street level as well as of the sky lobby
and the sky lounge are glass façades with a post and beam structure.

since the building is located on the approach path of the vienna airport, another property
of the façade proves beneficial: due to the three-dimensional folding of the exterior skin
it is radar compatible, which means that it has maximum radar absorption and diffusion
on all sides ('stealth effect').


© coop himmelb(l)au

the building produces electric energy in two ways: on the one hand through wind energy
by means of a large turbine on top of the tower in a bar-shaped construction, which is
optimally oriented with respect to the locally dominant wind direction. on the other hand
the façade panels are provided with a photovoltaic lamination, which produces electric
energy through the sun. according to the tests and studies, the façade and the turbine
together produce more energy than the building actually consumes.

in contrast to a standard office building of comparable size, which uses 2,000 to 4,000 MWha,
but does not produce energy, this office building achieves excellent values: depending on
the net consumption, the energy gain of 2,000 MWha improves the energy balance
– the surplus energy can be sold back to the utility company. this means in other words
also that the break-even point of efficiency will be reached much earlier. for the same
reason the eco-balance regarding the building operation shows a saving of a total
of 1.100.000 kg CO2.


© coop himmelb(l)au


© coop himmelb(l)au


© coop himmelb(l)au


© markus pillhofer

since 2002 the MIPIM architectural review future projects awards have been granted
for un-built or incomplete projects.


© markus pillhofer

project info:
town town- office tower
erdberg, vienna, austria
2000/2010 -
in planning

IWS immobilien development

euro: 66,97 million
start of planning: 3/2000

site area: 2450m2
gross floor area: 43 750m2

height: 128m
number of floors:30

building costs: 66, 97 million
costs per m2: 1.530eur/m2