Abstract Body

OeAD student housing is a non-profit organization and pioneer in the field of ecological construction with the main responsibility of accommodating international and national students with 15 years of experience in passive house construction. Its success story started in 2005 with the construction of the first student guesthouse built to the passive house standard worldwide in Vienna. Sustainability and the best possible use of resources are key for the organization: Their flexible wooden container constructions “PopUp dorms” opened in 2015 and received the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Award in 2019. Since 2016, 201 students live in the first ever high-volume wooden student guesthouse built according to the passive house standard with a 6-floor timber construction, “mineroom”. Not stopping there, OeAD student housing also offers accommodation in the very first EnergyPLUS-student residence worldwide in Vienna – “GreenHouse”. Today, the non-profit organization accommodates more than 12.000 academics in Austria per year, offering accommodation in eight passive house-, respectively EnergyPLUS-, guesthouses in Vienna, Graz and Leoben.

This paper describes the benefits of passive houses and aims at raising awareness for eco- and energy-efficient buildings. The concept of a passive house is economically profitable in terms of energy expenses and its benefits are evident within the company. Living in a passive house provides controlled indoor space ventilation which, in turn, can control the spread of viruses like COVID-19 and massively counteract it despite closed windows. One of the biggest advantages of a passive house is - among other things - the high standard of its ventilation and filtration performance. Passive houses automatically ventilate themselves with outdoor air, which is an essential factor in reducing the spread of viruses.

Many students encounter the topic of eco-efficient building for the first time when they move into any of the OeAD-Guesthouses and experience the benefits of ecological construction first-hand: energy-efficient passive houses for active students.

As the organization wants to share its knowledge with the rest of the world, OeAD student housing implemented two academic summer universities, which pay attention not only to ecological building, but also to the economic systems lying underneath.

Abstract Body

With climate change becoming a more pressing problem to solve on the global scale, ideas for a sustainable future are increasingly important. The interdisciplinary Online Summer Universities Green.Building.Solutions. (GBS) and Alternative Economic and Monetary Systems (AEMS) bridge this gap while being unique in their format.

The master-level GBS is an intensive annual training program encompassing the ecological, economic, technical and social aspects of the built environment. International participants acquire hands-on knowledge in the fields of Passive House technology, energy efficient design and sustainable urban planning guided by Austrian and international experts. The curriculum comprises self-study periods with video-lectures, live-discussions, workshops and virtual building tours. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of ecological building, with sessions on e.g. alternative building materials, greening or circularity of buildings, students experience the benefits of sustainable accommodation first-hand, getting to live in a passive house student guesthouse of the organizer and pioneer in energy efficient building, OeAD student housing in Vienna.

Participants get to put theory into practice in the final project work, dealing with a real-life object: in 2020, they worked on ideas for the renovation of the Viennese Otto-Wagner Area according to EnergyPLUS criteria under the aspects of heritage protection[1]. OeAD student housing has also been involved with a feasibility analysis of this project, published recently[2].

The AEMS Summer University deals with limits to growth and opens the view for alternative ideas to the current growth-based economic and financial systems. In a holistic online experience, participants from all fields develop a comprehensive understanding of why a drastic system change is necessary in order to stabilize the world climate at 1.5°C.

GBS and AEMS also offer an Expert Talk Series: During these monthly and free online-events, experts talk on the newest developments in ecological construction and alternative economics. GBS’ latest talk was on Plus Energy Districts, also introducing the Otto-Wagner Area project aiming at the first climate neutral renovation of a historic site and student campus worldwide.

So far, GBS counts more than 300 Alumni from 70+ nations.

[1] https://issuu.com/barbara.mayr/docs/owa_booklet_complete_20210121_final, 01.03.2021.

[2] https://nachhaltigwirtschaften.at/de/sdz/projekte/otto-wagner-areal-plus.php, 01.03.2021 (German).