About the research centre

The interfaculty research centre"Sustainable Building" deals with the conception, design, planning and construction of urban and rural structures, buildings and open spaces for an energy-, environmentally- and resource-efficient future.

The built environment is a reflection of our society, characterises the majority of our lives and influences our quality of life. Buildings provide us with living and working spaces as well as protection from external influences. The open spaces and landscapes in between are used for agriculture, leisure and mobility, among other things. Industrial, commercial and social infrastructures are embedded in urban and rural structures. The housing stock in Austria has doubled in the last 50 years.

With regard to our environment and security of supply, we need to design our living environment in a way that conserves energy and resources and is climate and environmentally friendly. Urban densification, new forms of mobility, infrastructure mix, building refurbishment, redesign of public spaces, energy efficiency in terms of high-quality spatial development and architectural design are issues of today and tomorrow. This can be implemented through optimised integral planning and the optimised use of known and new technologies.

Energy-efficient building design and refurbishment and the use of renewable energy sources are important aspects of this. Buildings are responsible for 37% of energy demand and 14% of greenhouse gas emissions in Austria. By 2050, the energy demand in the building sector could be halved in line with European targets and around 90% of the energy demand in the building sector could be covered by renewable energy sources.

The research centre develops sustainable solutions at district level (urban and regional development, design of public spaces, energy, water, waste water, mobility, goods), as well as at building level and in the form of individual solutions such as design, building physics, building technology and renewable energy. High-quality architecture that takes social and cost aspects into account helps to achieve broad acceptance.

Sustainable planning and building requires interdisciplinary co-operation between university institutions, specialists, politics and business. The research centre takes up this challenge with the aim of developing solutions for a sustainably built living environment.