OeAD student housing is a non-profit organisation with the main responsibility of accommodating over 12.000 international (and more recently, national) students in Austria’s university towns. Since 2004, they have expedited the construction of student dorms that follow a passive housing design in Austria and have been retrofitting existing dorms with photovoltaics systems with the goal of reducing environmental impact both during construction and their subsequent use. 

This allows 3000 students per year from all over the globe to have the opportunity to live in a passive house during their time at university. Since its completion, the OeAD-Guesthouse in Vienna has accommodated 280 international students and visiting lecturers per semester. In total, we manage 8 student guesthouses constructed in Vienna, Graz, and Leoben that utilise the passive house design structure.

‍What exactly is a passive house in general and the MO-project in particular? 

A passive house is not a brand name, but a certified building standard. It is excellently insulated and passively uses ambient heat. Thanks to the triple-glazed windows and other heat insulation materials, a house can have its loss of heat significantly reduced.

As a result of the intuitive design, passive heat sources such as solar radiation and heat energy emitted by people and their computers are sufficient by themselves to heat a passive house. 

To ensure that the room temperature remains constant throughout the year, a passive house makes use of efficient ventilation technology. The ventilation system draws in fresh air from outside and this allows fresh, preheated, and filtered air to enter the interior of a passive house without having to open its highly airtight windows.

The remaining demand for sufficient heating in wintertime can be managed with a minimum amount of energy. The MO-system is additionally supported by a foundation absorber that benefits from the temperature of the earth below, functioning as a means for pre-cooling in the summertime. 

OeAD student housing has two main goals: to convey knowledge about eco-friendly building to future generations, and to offer the highest possible standard of living with the lowest environmental impact.

Working sustainably doesn't only mean realising eco-friendly projects. It also means creating awareness and knowledge. Due to our positive experiences with the operation of passive houses, it is our capital desire to give many students an understanding of eco-efficient buildings. 

By building and operating passive houses, we learned how to minimise the harmful effects of the construction industry. Everything is connected: economy and resources, environment and consumption, democracy, science, and education. 

Hard work pays off 

All our efforts for an active ecologic contribution were honoured with numerous awards. 

In November 2013 the OeAD-Housing Office was awarded the Climate Protection Prize at the ORF climate protection awards in the category “Climate Protection in Companies”. With more than 30,000 votes from the audience, the OeAD-Housing Office was chosen among 230 submissions. 

The Molkereistrasse-project (short for the MO-project) is a successful example of one of OeAD’s property undertakings and was planned and realised as a so-called ‘passive house’ by Baumschlager Eberle Architects in 2,5 years from March 2003 until October 2005, with the goal of heading for maximum energy savings in student housing. 

Today it is almost 20 years old, becoming quite well known in Austria and Europe. The residence was visited by many people, with some of them being as famous as Alexander van der Bellen (Austrian’s Federal President at the moment) and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (author of numerous books concerning sustainability – e.g. ‘Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use in 1995 together with Amory and Hunter Lovins). 

In conclusion, OeAD student housing emphasises Austria’s leading role in relation to eco-friendly building and seeks to share knowledge with their international students, as well as to carry the basic ideas of eco-friendly building out into the world. Moreover, the residents will always associate the comfort of their experience with eco-friendly buildings with Austria and will gladly return to the country - either as tourists, university graduates or future business partners. 

Even if only a handful of our residents will be inspired by their positive experience with passive houses to build their own homes according to eco-friendly standards, or even launch a similar initiative in their home countries, our goal of educating and inspiring people will have been reached and we will have contributed to a more responsible and intelligent use of resources. 

The MO-sustainability 

We have learned that quality and comfort in housing are related to well-being, aesthetics and beauty since people handle things they like carefully. Therefore, the MO-Project emphasised material quality and architectural design in a way that exceeds just fulfilling the passive house energy standard.

The façade with its moveable copper sunshades was accurately designed to provide an attractive exterior appearance to those passing by. The two-storey entrance hall is bright and friendly while also giving a look into the building’s structure from the public street to the private courtyard.

The public areas within the MO-building benefit from numerous daylight wells that provide an attractive atmosphere and exciting access to the apartments. There are also a number of connecting areas which foster a community feeling by channeling acoustic noise from other inhabitants and allowing some glances into kitchen windows. Finally, the functional student apartments are nicely furnished and equipped to comfort their inhabitants, giving them almost a ‘hotel feeling’.

All of these aspects and features form integrative parts of the MO-sustainability concept which can be highly recommended for other student housing projects since generations of content and lucky guests have been able to benefit from the innovative design of passive housing in student accommodation.