Austria House, the first Passive House for the 21 st Olympic Winter Games 2010 in Canada Martin Treberspurg Univ. Prof. Arch. DI Dr., Head of Division of Sustainable Construction at Institute of Structural Engineering (IKI), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, martin.treberspurg@boku.ac.at Summary Mariam Djalili, M.Sc., mariam.djalili@boku.ac.at Ulla Ertl-Balga, Dr., ulla.ertl@boku.ac.at Roman Smutny, M.Sc., roman.smutny@boku.ac.at Christoph Neururer, M.Sc., christoph.neururer@boku.ac.at all: Scientist, Division of Sustainable Construction at Institute of Structural Engineering (IKI), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna The Austria House is traditionally a popular venue for people from the international worlds of politics, economics, sports and the media. The APG Austria House for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games was built as a Passive House and is therefore very energy efficient and ecological. During the Olympic and Paralympic Games, live broadcasts from the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) took place in the Austria House. Since the end of the games, the building has been used by the Resort Municipality of Whistler as a cross-country skiing centre in the winter and a mountain bike centre in the summer. The building lives up to one of the central goals of the 21st Olympic Winter Games: Sustainable Development. The certifications confirm that the Austria House is the most energy-efficient building ever constructed for the Olympic Games. The Austrian environment ministry awarded the Austria House as a klima:aktiv Passive House. The BOKU Vienna audit yielded outstanding evaluation scores for both energy efficiency and sustainable construction methods. Furthermore, the Austria House received the first international quality seal for sustainable buildings (DGNB) from the Austrian Green Building Council (ÖGNI) for an Austrian building. The Austria House is the first Canadian Passive House to be certified by the Passive House Institute (PHI) of Darmstadt, Germany. Keywords: Passive House, sustainable buildings, building certificates, wood architecture, solar architecture, energy efficiency, DGNB, ÖGNI Fig. 1 & 2 Austria House in Whistler [Foto: Ira Nicolai]
1. Introduction No other sports event in the world captures people s attention like the Olympic Games. The tremendous draw of the Olympics reflects the fact that the most important sports event in the world can unite and delight so many, regardless of age or national origin. This backdrop offers a unique opportunity to create a global awareness of the Passive House idea. The Austria House is designed to accomplish this task as the first Passive House in Canada and the only foreign national building in Whistler. The building documents one of the essential goals of the 21st Olympic Winter Games: Sustainable Development. Sustainable development is one of the main goals of the Olympic movement. [1] 2. The Design of the Austria House The Austria House was built as a wooden Passive House. The state-of-the-art 250 m² building is constructed from green building materials. The Austria House was a project of the Austrian Passive House Group (APG), a consortium formed by Sohm Holzbautechnik (timber construction), drexel und weiss energieeffiziente haustechniksysteme gmbh (technical building equipment), Erich Reiner Engineers, Optiwin windows and the zweiraum advertising agency. Treberspurg & Partner Architects developed the design in close cooperation with the APG and the Resort Municipality of Whistler. Subsequent use of the building and its permanence were essential issues. After the games, the building was thus put to use by the Resort Municipality of Whistler as a cross-country skiing centre in the winter and a mountain bike centre in the summer. The prototype of an alpine building a traditional, compact, gable-roofed structure oriented to the south served as a starting point for the architectural design. The use of the same black fibercement shingles on both the roof and the façade emphasizes the monolithic appearance of the building. The different functional areas of the one-room building are arranged around a spiral element, which serves as a bar and room divider near the staircase on the ground floor and as a parapet on the upper floor. The ground floor serves as an event space with direct access to the south-facing terrace. Expansive glazed surfaces and the continuation of indoor space-defining elements to the outside reinforces the continuity between inside and out. A continuous strip of windows leading to the upper floor further opens the building up to nature while visually elevating the functionally separate top floor. The double angle formed by the roof and glazed stairwell frames the upper-floor view toward Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains, where two downhill skiing events were held. The view served as the backdrop for studio commentators during TV broadcasts. A balcony on the front of the building, which can be seen as a continuation of the terrace, connects the studio to the environment. The balcony serves as a lounge and a VIP area.
Fig. 3 Floor plan, ground floor [Source: Treberspurg & Partner Architects] Fig. 4 Floor plan, upper floor [Source: Treberspurg & Partner Architects]
3. Marketing concept and media presence The Austria House is traditionally a favourite meeting place for sports figures, the media, business people and politicians from around the world, making it an effective platform for advertising Austrian hospitality and quality. Thus, the social function of Austria House is every bit as important as its role as a broadcast studio for Austrian s ORF. The Austrian Passive House Group (APG) built the Austrian House and operated it in cooperation with the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC). To get the word out effectively, a targeted campaign was launched while maintaining constant contact with local media in Canada and Austria. The components of the marketing campaign included: A documentary film about the construction of the APG Austria House Canadian documentary films about Austria House (Discovery Channel, CBC, and others) A web site (www.oesterreichhaus.at) with updates and a blog The 1 st Austrian Passive House Forum & Sustainable Technology Showcase Austria Canada, from 22-23 March 2010 in Whistler with presentations by Austrian companies, talks on Passive House construction, and the official transfer of the Austria House to the Resort Municipality of Whistler Articles in local media and trade publications in Austria and Canada. Awards and quality seal presentations for public relations and awareness-raising The certifications received confirm that the Austria House is the most energy-efficient building ever constructed for the Olympic Games. The most important certifications and awards are described in greater detail below. Fig. 5 left: Canadian and Austrian construction team on site [Source: Ira Nicolai], right: VIParea during Olympic Games inside [Source: Martin Treberspurg] 3.1 Klima:aktiv Award - the Austrian climate protection initiative The Austrian environment ministry recognized Austria House as a klima:aktiv Passive House. The BOKU Vienna audit yielded outstanding evaluation scores for both energy efficiency and sustainable construction. The building received 983 out of 1.000 possible points. The air-quality assessment actually resulted in the full 1.000 possible points.
Fig. 5 Results of the klima:aktiv evaluation 3.2 DGNB quality seal In a festive event in late January 2010, the first international quality seal for sustainable buildings (DGNB) was presented to the Austrian Green Building Council (ÖGNI) for an Austrian building. Drees & Sommer assisted the audit. The building s environmental characteristics received the highest marks and gold certification. For quality of planning and execution, the project also received gold. Evaluation of the use of development land was relatively strict (Criterion 15, Fig. 6) because, unlike Canada, land for development in Austria is a very scarce resource. The economic quality of the Austria House (Criterion 16-17, Fig. 6) was awarded silver due to the relatively high construction costs. The high costs were the result of paving, planning, and construction, as well as the building's small size. The small volume of the building results in a very unfavourable ratio between the generally more expensive building envelope and the building volume. Small buildings tend to be much more expensive to build per square meter than office buildings with a large volume. The DGNB quality seal, however, evaluates construction costs based on targets for large volume buildings. Because this criterion has such a great influence on the total score, the overall evaluation was silver. For the final certificate, gold is within reach with just a few additional minor improvements. Figure 7 illustrates the results of the individual evaluation indicators as percentages, showing both the scores achieved and maximum scores.
Fig. 7 Results of the DGNB certification for each evaluation indicator
3.3 PHI Passive House certification The Austria House was the first Canadian Passive House to be certified by the Passive House Institute (PHI) of Darmstadt, Germany. IG Passivhaus Österreich presented the certificate, along with a plaque granted for the first time ever on behalf of PHI. The PHI certification is an important basis for further certifications because it ensures the quality of the planning documentation. 4. Results and Conclusions The Austria House at the Olympic Games was successful at raising awareness outside of Europe - especially in Canada and North America - of the Passive House concept as a proven solution to sustainable development and climate protection. The result of targeted public relations work has been a display of the strength of Austrian companies in the fields of Passive House technology, the environment, and energy, as well as creating long term partnerships between Austrian and Canadian companies and institutions. The project is a further step toward spreading to a global audience the concept of the Passive House. Despite the financial crisis, the construction industry was spurred on to spread innovation and implementation of sustainable building. The foundation of a Passive House interest group in Canada will help to continue promotion of the idea. 5. Acknowledgements Austria House was made possible primarily by APG sponsor contributions: Erich Reiner Engineers, A - 6870 Bezau, http://www.reiner.at Sohm Holzbautechnik, A-6861 Alberschwende, http://www.sohm-holzbau.at Drexel and Weiss, A-6922 Wolfurt, http://www.drexel-weiss.at Optiwin. A-6341 Ebbs, http://www.optiwin.net Zweiraum Advertising, A-6460 Imst, http://zweiraum.cc/ 6. References [1] ESSIG N.C., Sustainability of Olympic Buildings Guidelines for sustainable architecture of mega-sporting events, Proceedings CESB2007, Prague, p. 361 ff