S-HOUSE | SUSTAINABLE BUILDING

Sustainable construction can be defined as follows: Not only the building concepts but also the components and materials which are used have to meet the present needs o the users without burdening future generations with wast disposal problems or prolonged use of an out-dated building design.

Thus sustainable architecture means: form follows ethics, i.e. the design is the result of a careful consideration of functions, materials and their life-cycle performance including long term perspectives, present and future human needs and social aspects. This is the basic principle under which the S-House, a passive solar house made of renewable resources, is constructed.

Passive solar house technology is already well known. Building materials based on renewable resources are present in some areas (e.g. wood). But the combination of both is quite unique. This combination is made visible by the S-House, an office and demonstration building at the Center for Appropriate Technology in Böheimkirchen / Austria. After a careful planing phase the building was put up in early 2005. In this paper the process of the S-House building phase is described. Details of the building are mentioned in addition to important background information.

The challenge of the S-House-project consists in combining the high energy standard of passive solar house technology (less than 15 kWh/m2a) with the use of renewable resources and herewith to benefit from the advantages of both.

s-house.at

photos of the visit to the S-HOUSE

Robert WIMMER Dr., Hannes HOHENSINNER Dipl. Ing., Manfred DRACK Dr.

GrAT – Center for Appropriate Technology at the Vienna University of Technology. Wiedner Hauptstrasse

8-10. 1040 Vienna, Austria. Phone: ++43 1 58801 49523. Fax: ++43 1 58801 49533. E-mail: contact@grat.at