Based on your research, we will discuss the environmental impact - positive and negative - of your design from your earliest conceptual ideas. Together, we will develop your concepts to bring together design excellence and a sustainable construction strategy. Any idea goes: from passive strategies of how to re-use any amount of energy, material or component in a building to energy producing algae farms you can live in. Interactive strategies are as much welcome as precise optimization of intelligently populated building envelopes. The core of the considerations is the energy balance of the built environment over its entire life cycle.

This semester´s course is part of an ongoing collaboration with BIG/ ARE and part of a STUDENT COMPETITION which is financially supported by ARE with generous prizes. Students who participate in the module are automatically registered for the competition. Prizes are awarded at the end of the academic year based on evaluation by an independent jury.   The design task “F7 Aspern” is a real-life urban planning task currently being prepared for a design competition, more information will follow. There are two main themes to be followed:   I. Outdoor Comfort and Microclimate   In an ever-warmer climate, one of the challenges facing society today is how to design urban  outdoor spaces in order to promote health, well-being, and the social encounters so vital to human life in our cities. How can we improve comfort and liveability in outdoor spaces without contributing to the vicious cycle of energy use causing carbon emissions, ever-increasing atmospheric temperatures, urban heat island effects, and more warming? Vegetation, water areas and shading are important elements to create comfortable microclimatic conditions in summer. However, the design of outdoor spaces is also about creating places that are well-sunlit in winter and sheltered from the wind. In this course, the focus is on creating favorable microclimatic conditions for outdoor comfort, using design strategies for building form, urban design configuration, orientation, development of building height, landscape design and active measures.    The aim is to improve the year-round usability of the project’s outdoor zones both on the project site and in the immediate surrounding areas by appropriate design strategies and concepts. The focus is less on the design of the buildings and more on the design of the spaces in-between.   II. Sustainable Neighborhoods and Energy Sharing   In this course, the focus is on the development of urban, architectural and energy design strategies for the creation of sustainable neighborhoods which allow energy balancing at the neighborhood level and energy sharing between people, spaces and buildings. Concepts for energy storage, synergies between different uses and integrated mobility concepts will be researched and developed. A microgrid can redistribute energy and make locally generated renewable energy available to all end users with minimum losses. This local self-contained intelligent power supply network connects all local renewable energy systems, energy storage systems and consumers to allow the formation of an energy community with energy sharing between all uses on the entire site. However, innovative approaches to organizing the spaces and the different uses and of configuring the architectural and urban design can also contribute to more effective ways of sharing energy.   The goal is to design energy sharing concepts which reduce the community's carbon footprint, lower the energy cost for the community members and provide a resilient local energy system, in order to promote environmental, economic, and social sustainability. 

You can work in groups up to 3 students, so that you can share workload.

There are 4 obligatory meetings with Prof. Cody and in between Desk Crits with Bernhard Sommer, every Friday at 11:15. Additional Desk Crits, if necessary, will be scheduled via termino.gv.at

By the end of the semester, you present a conceptual design that focuses on the energy and ecological questions. Besides a beamer presentation, a model will be required.

In case of distant learning:

All regular dates are online during Mode Orange/Red resp. Lockdown. The seminar sessions will be held via zoom.us. Desk Crits, if necessary, will be scheduled via termino.gv.at.  The key to the meetings is sent to registered students only via basemail.

We are happy to have you online.