Best architects 16 – Sustainable architecture and experiments in a sustainable lifestyle Award-winning work of Einszueins architecture office in Vienna
To many people in the West, feng shui seems to be a complicated set of rules for living in the East. But simplifying feng shui a bit, it is the way to make your living environment comfortable: sunlight, air and water. How to make the environment (home) comfortable for people to live in? How to keep a nice environment for the next generation? Some architects think about how to make architecture and the people living inside it coexist with the same vision. The work of Einszueins architecture office is a great sustainable example.
A short note about the award-winning work:
Spatial allocation: 40 housing units in a residential establishment (36-137m2), 500m2 for common rooms, 400m2 for commercial area
Period of planning: 2010-2013
Completion of the building: December 2013
Baugruppe (Cohousing, a group of people with a shared vision designs, builds and lives together): association of sustainable living, which includes 67 adults and 25 children
Planning and participating architects: Einszueins architecture office
There is a huge area of former train station in Vienna’s second district, which has been designated as a new city planning zone. By 2025 about 10,000 new residential units and 20,000 new jobs will be created there. In 2013 this eight-floor residential establishment with 40 units was created in this area. The location is great, next to the public transport system and near a park. They have a slogan: “Let’s live together!” This is not just a normal apartment building, but a self-organised and self-managing association, which thinks about sustainability and commits to a sustainable lifestyle. This design project manages to bring different generations, languages, cultures and professions all together under one roof (literally). This is a new Viennese lifestyle: affection towards each other, no dogma, open-minded to new things and people. The way it works here with the neighbours feels like living in a vertical village. In a big city of individuals, it seems to be an alien.
Baugruppe has become something of a trend in Vienna since 2010. This kind of group has a vision: create a new path in the name of sustainability. As regards the construction itself, this includes:
+ all members join the planning process
+ extensive common rooms
+ use of harmless building materials that save resources
+ low-energy standard
+ combination of living and working under one roof
There are also other aspects of sustainable life:
+ (6) electric car sharing system
+ Local exchange trading system (voluntary service exchange, for instance a member maintains the association’s website for an hour, another member cooks for an hour so that other members can pay a little amount to share meals in the common kitchen. Every voluntary service – based only on time – has the same value!)
+ Weekend market on the plaza in front of the establishment
+ City gardening area
+ Environmental way of consuming, for instance foodcoop. Some members are responsible for buying organic fruit and vegetables from local farms for the whole association.
+ Most of the residents use bicycles. That is why 116 bicycle parking places are planned on the ground floor.
This master plan can also convince other people to try this approach, and this is why Einszueins architecture office received the Vienna City Environmental Award in 2012.
This building supports the group functions but also does not ignore individual characters. Its contractual system allows individual planning within every unit. That is why 40 different units can be very flexible to adapt the individual needs. The stairwell is in the middle of the building to increase communication between neighbours. The central part of this project is the extensive common rooms, for example the common kitchen, multifunctional room, kids’ playroom, workshop and music room. The penthouse area belongs to everybody, with great facilities like sauna, library, roof garden, guest rooms (at the moment voluntarily offered to, and used by, two refugees families) and meditation area. The commercial area on the ground floor allows members to work downstairs and vitalises the neighbourhood. You can find a small grocery there, and the Einszueins architecture office.
In 2015 Einzueins architecture office received the Austrian National Prize for Architecture and Sustainability 2014. Using various sustainable measures is becoming a model for many architects. The inside of the building is a solid structure, with a facade of larch wood. Due to the low-energy standard, a controllable central air regulation is in use. Part of the electricity comes from photovoltaics, hot water is supplied by community heating, the flats have underfloor heating, and geothermal heat is also used here.
Self-organisation and making decisions together are the common living principles of a Baugruppe. The organisation’s structure is based on sociocracy. Everybody is equal, and it works in a professional way. This is the reason why every member must pass various interviews to join this association for this sustainable project. This kind of experimental way of living together can only work when everybody has the same vision, agreement and commitment.
Globalisation means that many people don’t live and work in the place where their family members live or near their old friends who they grew up with. Very often people can only rely on their neighbours or get help from them, not from their own family. Can architecture change people’s lifestyle? Or another way round?
Can this sustainable architectural project and the courage to choose this kind of experimental sustainable lifestyle give you a bit of stimulation?
最佳建築師16 – 永續建築及實驗性的永續生活方式
維也納Einszueins 建築師事務所得獎作品
風水對很多西方人來說像是在東方住的複雜規則, 其實簡化風水就是安置舒適住的環境: 陽光, 空氣, 水。怎樣可以讓人住得舒服, 還有怎樣能保持好的生活環境給下一代呢? 有些建築師會思考如何將一個建築物和裡面住的人可以用相同的理念一起共存。Einszueins建築師事務所建造的作品就是一個很好的永續模式。
關於最佳建築師16 得獎作品的小筆記：
空間分配：40個住宅單位的宿舍(36-137平方公尺），500平方公尺公共活動室，400平方公尺商業用地。
規劃期：2010-2013
完工交屋：2013/12 月
Baugruppe (建設團，共同住宅)：永續生活協會，會員包函67個成人，25個小孩。
規劃及參與建築師：Einszueins 建築師事務所
在維也納二區有一大塊舊火車站用地被規劃成新都市計劃區。到2025年會產生一萬戶住宅及兩萬個工作機會。在這地區2013年時誕生了一個八層樓，40個住宅單位的宿舍，位於公共交通良好的位置還在公園旁邊。他們的主題是,和我們一起居住’！這不是一個普通的宿舍，他們是一個自己管理的協會，思考什麼是永續還有堅定執行永續的生活方式。這個設計方案將不同的世代，語言，文化和職業安排在同一屋簷下生活。它是一個在維也納全新的生活模式：熱情親切，沒有教條，對新的人事物保持開放的態度。敦親睦鄰像個直立式的小村莊。在個人化的大城市中算是異類。
Baugruppe (建設團，共同住宅）是從2010年開始在維也納流行的趨勢。這個團體有一個遠景：以永續為前提開發新的路。在施工的角度來說可以應用在以下這幾點：
+ 所有會員充分參與住宅的規劃
+ 全面性的公共活動室
+ 使用節省資源及對健康無害的建築材料
+ 低供暖需求
+ 融合生活及工作在同一屋簷下
還有加入其他永續的生活方式：
+ ( 6台)電動車共乘制
+ 互助原則 （交換時間義工服務，例如有會員幫協會管理網站一小時，別人幫協會煮飯一小時讓他可以搭伙，每一種義工服務性質基於時間來說都是同等級!）
+ 廣場週末市集
+ 種菜區還有
+ 環保性的集體消費，例如有會員負責到有機農場幫整個協會買新鮮有機蔬果(foodcoop)
+ 大部分的人都使用腳踏車。所以底樓有容納116台腳踏車的停車區
這一個整體構想也能說服其他人所以在2012年得到了維也納市環境獎。
這棟建築物支持團體功能也不忽略獨立個性。它的結構系統讓每一戶住宅單位裡面都能夠個人化的規劃。所以40個不同的住宅因為如此有彈性的隔間可以配合每一戶個人的需求。 位於中央的天井式樓梯間有讓住戶們增加交流的機會。這個方案的中心點是多樣化的共用活動室，例如廚房，多用途空間，兒童遊戲室，工坊及音樂練習室。頂樓是屬於大家共用的，有三溫暖，圖書館，空中花園，客用小公寓(目前給2個難民家庭使用）還有靜坐區。底樓的商業面積提供住戶可以在自己樓下上班，有一個小咖啡蔬果店，甚至建築師自己的公司也在樓下。
2015年Einzueins建築師事務所獲得2014 奧地利國家建築永續獎。因為應用很多永續的措施讓他們成為很多建築人學習的榜樣。結構內部是使用鋼筋水泥，外觀使用杉木，因爲是低能源標準的蓋法所以整棟都是控制性中央空調。能源來自光伏發電系統，熱水來自集中供熱，暖氣是地板採暖， 還有利用地熱設備。
自己組織還有一同決定是他們的共同生活原則。組織的結構是全民政治，這個模式基於大家都平等而且很專業的方式進行。所以當初在設計開始之前所有的會員都要通過面試才能參加這個協會。因為這種生活原則必須大家有共同的遠見, 共識及義務感才有辦法存在運作。
在全球化的影響下很多人居住及工作的地方不一定是有家人住在附近或在從小長大的朋友圈附近。常常能仰賴或幫忙的其實不是自己的家人反而是鄰居。建築可以改變人的生活型態嗎? 還是相反?
這個永續的建築方案及勇於選擇實驗性的永續生活方式可以給你一點啟發嗎?
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