Sustainable Social housing in St. Pölten, Austria
Welling architects is collaborating with Studio Architectuur MAKEN on a sustainable social housing complex in St. Pölten, Austria.
Through participation in a cooperative competition, we have been selected to develop a building with 32 apartments in a sustainable social housing community. In this competition we worked together with 7 other invited offices to develop a masterplan for a sustainable innovative social housing community that stimulates community living and incorporates innovative housing concepts and sustainable building development. All involved offices have been commissioned to develop one building in this community.
The goal we set ourselves was to design a climate inclusive and climate adaptive building. We studied the sun path, wind rose, and local conditions to adapt our design to and create a variety of pleasant micro climates in the community garden.
We created a staggered zigzagging terraced façade on the south-east of the building, covered with lush overgrown pergolas. This aids as natural sunshading during the hot months of the year, while it provides a cooling effect as well. The zigzagged shape allows for more privacy to each apartment, while avoiding closing off the sides of each terrace.
Sustainable materials and building technology will be used according to the principles of the circular economy. The building is aimed to have a completely wooden structure, and a façade made of wooden shingles from reclaimed wood.
