Seestadt Aspern – Seeparkquartier Baufeld J4

Render: 3DStudja

THE LIGHTNESS OF 33.000 TONS - ASPERN


INTRODUCTION
Worldwide, cities like Vienna are experiencing increasing rates of growth and an increasing urge to provide healthy and environmentally friendly urban environments and lifestyles. We understand our contribution as an ecological model that serves to organize, structure and cultivate the site, and develop coherent spatial and programmatic concepts for the site.
”Ecological understanding”, writes Gregory Bateson ”must be ecological.” In other words in order to understand any eco-system it is necessary to evolve a way of working and thinking that itself parallels the sustainable properties of biological systems. This has implications for the conceptualization of structures (the built environment) functioning and changing over time.
Our aim was to develop seven mental and visceral templates specific to this project not as a general design method but as a conceptual framework of interaction, feedback and adaptation between different knowledge fields and ways to design.

THE LIGHTNESS OF 33.000 TONS
The site reflects that, with the use of 34.000 m3 timber in this project, it contributes to a reduction of 33.000 tons CO2 emission.

HIERARCHICAL LEVELS
Biological systems operate on a large range of interlocked hierarchical levels from molecular activities via the organization of cells, tissues, and organs, to breeds, etc. The intention was to create a hierarchy of design levels; each has its own characteristics and laws and therefore requires different means of observation and investigation.
The largest hierarchical level covers the massing and structuring of the entire block encasing a green natural courtyard. It is shaped through sun studies and investigations in the urban surroundings.
Three highpoints are orientated towards the important adjacent urban spaces: the squares to the south east and south west and the sea promenade.
Each of these highpoints is carved out at its base by a “magic cave”, a prominent entrance hall. Each is also oriented towards one of the three urban spaces.
The magic caves consist of an outdoor passage leading into the courtyard and an indoor hall - a social meeting place - which gives each corner a strong and characteristic identity.
The second level consists of 13 apartment blocks, each with its own entrance, staircase, elevator, infrastructure and common functions. The design of this level has resulted from studies of logistics, organisation, flexibility and living quality.
The design of different apartment typologies, their rooms and their balcony options constitutes the lowest hierarchical level. Together these interlinked design levels function as an elastic and geometric test field.
The design of the parts and internal relations can change while at the same time retaining the overall robustness of the hierarchical design
levels.


NEIGHBOURHOOD
The success of cities lies, according to the physicist Geoffrey West, largely in positive human interaction. He therefore proclaims that one of the most important responsibilities of urban planners and architects is to increase the amount of voluntary human contact and at the same time to avoid hassle and disturbance of the private domain. We consider facilitating good neighbourhood and positive social interaction as major tasks in the design of sustainable environments.
In our project we have investigated a sequence of social meeting spaces nestled within each other, which gradually connect the surrounding urban environment with the private domain.
The first type of mingling spaces are the entrance halls (“The Magic Caves”) leading into the building and the courtyard. These three spectacular spaces are orientated towards the three main public spaces adjacent to the project and house an outdoor passage and a dramatic indoor space. Here can be a typical Vienna Café, a restaurant, an art gallery, a sport and health centre or an indoor food market. They are identification points and make a grand gesture, mediating between the urban public domain and the green central biotope.
On the way home every inhabitant passes through these spaces and can choose to mingle and socialize. From this passage you pass the green oasis as you make your way towards the entrance to your apartment building. Generous staircases fold out from the facade into the green garden and morphs into benches, playgrounds, climbing installations etc. The staircases have an undulating form with direct visual contact to the courtyard in order to invite people to prefer the stair walk. Common spaces, balconies and informal meeting zones are nestled in the staircase.
The staircases lead to green roof terraces, which serve as large common spaces. Here residents have the possibility to rent garden areas, find sunny picnic places and enjoy rooftop facilities.
All the circulation in the project is combined with exciting spaces and environments for optional social interaction.


INDIVIDUALITY / GENERALITY
Related to the idea of the genetic code the main flexible framework of the structure and infrastructure is fixed (genotype) while within it individual forms and uses can take place (phenotype).
The structure/ infrastructure and the facades have a general and flexible design in order to allow for a wide range of possible floor plans.
The balconies on the other hand invite an individual and customized adaptation. They are spacious outdoor spaces that inhabitants can freely develop and use and which are large enough to have a small garden.
Moreover a specially designed balcony-kit fits the geometry of the balcony and can be ordered by the inhabitants. The kit contains division walls, benches, beds, tables, outdoor grills, plant pots, hammocks, climbing walls, a jumping landscape, trim equipment, water basins etc. The individual use will be visible from the outside and create a rich and colourful expression, which will change over time.


ADAPTABILITY / PARAMETRIC
In general terms Sustainability is the endurance of systems and processes. The crucial intention was to develop a set of rules for a robust structure and infrastructure that sustain changes and growth without major adjustments. The set of rules (sun requirements, building regulations, area calculations etc) are the base for a parametric model, which allows changes and adjustments within its parameters. We paid special attention to developing the structure’s suitability for different forms of use and various apartment typologies.
The building depth is ca. 13 m, which allows good light conditions for apartments and offices. A module consists of an elevator/ staircase that serves ca. 20 m lengthwise. It can optionally serve two, three, four or five apartments in each floor or an office with 220 m2.
We propose in the first 4 floors a horizontally connected structure to optimize possibilities for optional partitioning. The first four floors are suitable for both office/commercial use and residential use. For office space, the main communication zones can be placed asymmetrically in the plan thus creating large open flexible floor plans that can be subdivided according to need.
A centrally placed technical core can provide a buffer between corridors and work zones. The smallest module would be 2,5m x 3m, a more or less quadratic shape that can accommodate a variety of office functions whilst making good use of the facade.
The building module will also support larger office spaces like a doctors’ surgery, where the room size could be easily increased to 3,3 x 3,3m with space for a patient chair and treatment bench.
Additionally the module can be adapted to house educational facilities with classrooms and special functions like labs that can lie adjacent to the technical core.


MATERIALITY
We propose to use timber as the main material for the structure, the cladding and all the indoor surfaces. For this project timber is the most relevant environmentally friendly material.
By using 34.000 m3 of timber, the estimated reduction is 33.000 tons CO2 emissions, while concrete and steel would generate a CO2 emission surplus.
From a cradle-to-cradle perspective, timber is an organic material within an ecological cycle, without producing waste. Moreover, timber has exceptional properties regarding indoor climate and health.
Through its hygroscopic qualities timber can manage humidity and gases, which creates a provable, positive influence on human health and wellbeing. Timber also has tactile, warm qualities, it smells good and it looks beautiful.


HEALTHY TECHNOLOGY
The project proposes healthy, simple and mostly passive solutions regarding the choice of materials, energy solutions, housing and production technology. The provision of horizontal cantilevered roofs in all floors and around all the facades except the north facade ensure that the buildings do not need cooling. These roofs serve as passive sun shading and their width varies depending on the amount of direct sun exposure. Moreover, they function as balconies, maintenance corridors, protect the timber cladding against rain weather and give protection against vertical fire transmission.
The buildings have a low energy consumption due to more natural fiber insulation in the walls and roof (ca. 300 mm in the wall, 400 mm in the roof). The walls and roof are also breathable and open structures. The semi acclimatised vertical staircases towards the courtyard also serve as ducts for natural ventilation. The dense vegetation of the courtyard will clean and wet the air before it is led into the staircases where it will be pre-heated. This space will work as a climatic regulator and a constant temperature can be achieved by thermal mass, adjustable sun protection, vegetation, and water.
Fresh air for the apartments can be taken in directly from the staircases, optionally with a pollen filter. The bedroom[s] are ventilated directly through the windows; the best sleeping temperature has been proven to be 14 ºC. The used air for the whole apartment is sucked through the bathroom and up through a duct to the roof. More than 50% of the roof is covered with solar thermal collectors and/ or solar panels orientated south to optimize their effect. The rest of the roof has a vegetation layer which has a buffering effect with regards to weather and temperature.
For this project the timber experts Samuel and Hermann Blumer have helped us to develop a special bionic timber construction. It consists of three rows with rounded timber columns in an axial distance of 6750 mm. The columns consist of two timber shells in order to solve horizontal sound transmission. They can be filled with concrete to achieve rigid corner joints. In between the double columns there are rounded beams, which cantilever on both sides to support the balconies. The CLT timber ceilings have dowelled push cams in timber, which create together with the concrete layer, a stiff hybrid ceiling construction. No steel reinforcement is needed. In case of a fire, the supporting concrete layer is protected by the CLT timber ceiling. The stiffness of the construction is provided by the rigid joints and the elevator ducts. For the cladding we propose untreated core wood pine. The entire structure and all the surfaces are visible and create a warm and unique atmosphere and will give an authentic aesthetic expression.


CONTACT WITH NATURE
The basic approach for an ecological life-style is often grounded in a deep respect and appreciation for natural environments and life forms.
A frequent physical, sensual and emotional contact with nature is not only provably healthy for our mind and body but can also initiate an esteem and feeling of responsibility for the biological richness and the vulnerable complexity of nature. Moreover the enrichment of a city’s biodiversity provides homes for many species of animals, birds, insects and plants. We wanted therefore to give as much horizontal surface as possible to vegetation.
The courtyard is a large natural wilderness and has vegetation based on local flagship species related to riparian biotopes from the Viennese Danube floodplain. Riverine vegetation is highly fragmented and considered one of the most threatened ecosystems in Europe. The courtyard has four varied plots.The covering of these zones reflects natural succession stadiums in vegetation development. From the initial phase with sand bars without vegetation, to moisture-gardens with swale which drain stormwater runoff and upland contours with dryer plots with lush, colourful forest-like fields.