Project 3: Sunlighthouse, Vienna, Austria, 2010
Sunlighthouse is the first CO2 neutral single family house in Austria designed by Juri Troy Architects and was completed at the end of 2010. The project was launched by the Velux company as part of their Pan European Project, where the goal was to design, build and analyse six varieties of houses, each having its own approach to progressive and sustainable architecture and living. The aim of the Austrian project on one hand was to design and develop a home that uses the full potential of its context, for example its views, it’s sunlight and it’s privacy, while on the other hand to create an energy and ecology plan to eradicate the ecological footprint of the property within the next 30 years of its construction. The site for the project is a long slender plot that declines into a shaded wooded area of tall trees. A lake is located in a valley in the East and was only visible by getting a step deeper into the plot, hence maximising plot usage and taking advantage of the best views.
Innovative technology was used to accomplish the energy targets of the building. 48 meter squared mono crystalline photovoltaic panels, a high performance heat pump, 9 metre squared solar panels used for water heating and a controlled air system with heat recovery were integrated into the building(27). The external and internal cladding was manufactured from spruce wood and treated with white pigmented natural oil in order to reduce darkening of the wood and to keep the surface bright.
The windows provide full passive house requirements and were also designed to obtain maximum natural daylight into the house in order to reduce the energy consumption of artificial lighting. The use of daylight in the architecture has been maximised to ensure the good health and well being of the occupants. The daylight conditions were calculated digitally and with the use of a study model under an artificial sky, the designers came to an evaluation of an average daylight factor of at least 5% for all living and workspaces. Not only does this minimise the need for artificial lighting but it also ensures balanced daylight levels throughout the two floors. The reached daylight factor in each room in Sunlighthouse is five times greater than that of a standard house. Each window, either on the roof or facade, were strategically placed to provide fantastic views, enable natural ventilation during summer and retain thermal intake of the building in the winter. Direct sunlight is also of great importance for our health and well being. It is recommended that at least one hour of direct sunlight is needed for humans during the winter period to maintain our internal clocks and good mental states. With Sunlighthouse, an evaluation came to the result that 5 hours of direct sunlight is present in the building on the shortest day of the year. In the end, the home produces more power than it uses, which will help reduce the carbon emissions from construction.
Juri Troy Architects was founded in 2003 in Vienna, Austria. Their projects concentrate heavily on sustainability and energy efficiency. In 2012 Juri Troy was awarded under Europe’s most emerging young architects – 40 under 40. Since 2006 he has been a lecturer at the Technical University of Vienna in the Departments for Architecture and Design alongside Spatial and Sustainable Design and at the University of Applied Sciences of Vienna – Department for Green Building(29). Due to the firm's approach on sustainability, many of their designs rely greatly on the use of daylight design in order to reduce energy consumption from artificial lighting. In return, this also improves the thermal properties of their buildings reducing again on energy consumption and costs.
