WBM

Each unit is organized around a basic module with a core well that other building blocks can be docked to. Nonstructural lightweight walls enable setting up apartments with different floor plans and uses which, with preplanned partitioning points and easily disassemblable construction parts, can be flexibly adapted to residents’ living situation even after completion of the building. Structural modularity allows for easy maintenance and even reassembly in a new shape and different place. From planning to manufacturing to construction and use, the construction kit follows a closed-cycle system: the wood modules are factory-produced with little waste, then screwed together and complemented with low-emission secondary construction materials like recycled concrete.

Modular ceiling panels, wall elements, and prefab wet-room units make for a low-noise and quick construction process. A simple basic structure and repetitive elements allow for easy assembly of the building. A number of trees equivalent to the total wood consumption is newly planted with the help of a reforestation organization.

The buildings’ ‘digital twin’ keeps track of their construction timeline and assists facility management: the building can be operated economically and with foresight, it can be serviced and repaired as well as converted if so desired. Optimized maintenance processes afford an extension of its useful life and minimized repair costs.

With biodiverse planting, PV solar panels on the roofs, design-integrated rainwater management, and the reduction of sealed substructure, the construction kit utilizes several potentials of ecological sustainability and climate resilience. The wood-characterized atmosphere of the interior continues to the balconies that are conceived as generous green spaces.

High-efficiency geothermal heat pumps supply the residential buildings with heating and cooling energy. Shaded outdoor spaces and greened access balconies and pergolas also contribute to an improved micro-climate. Three projects in Vienna illustrate the broad range of applicability of the construction kit: The SOS Children’s Village on Naufahrtweg offers natural peace and quiet as well as seclusion for sometimes traumatized young people.

The sensitive interplay of places for retreat, activity and creation provide children and adolescents with a home that offers comfort and shelter. The residential quarter on Orasteig, on the other hand, oscillates between nature and urbanism. Through-apartments with circulation galleries in front provide buffer zones, communication areas, and outdoor amenity spaces. Natural ventilation and daylighting of the basement floor makes alternative uses of the parking deck currently located there easily available. The largest-scale construction kit eventually promises housing for young families: the residential complex on Aspernstrasse. Framed in greened shelves, the wooden residential modules are grouped like building blocks around an inviting sculpture—a circulation area as an expressive faced turned toward the city.