A climate-friendly research building

Lüdenscheid, August 2022. The University of Vienna’s new biology centre was designed as an exceptionally sustainable building to help combat climate change. The focus was on energy efficiency and using planet friendly construction materials. The Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft was the client for the teaching and research centre, which is 12,000 square metres in size. The new scientific hub accommodates over 5,000 students and just under 500 employees. The biology centre was fitted with flexible EVOline power solutions that are easy to adapt to changing usage requirements.

Nowadays, sustainable construction is more relevant than ever. According to the UN, existing buildings are already responsible for just under 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. As a result, for new builds, using energy and resources efficiently is just as important as designing usage concepts and infrastructure that can adapt to new demands easily as well. For the new teaching and research centre in Vienna, Berlin-based architects Karsten Liebner and Marcel Backhaus joined forces with architect Christian Schwarz from Vasko+Partner. The goal was to develop a concept that complies with sustainable construction requirements, starting with the building materials and energy consumption all the way to the power and data infrastructure.

Careful use of resources

The team even focused on maximum sustainability for the construction materials. The brick facade isn’t just reminiscent of the slaughterhouse buildings formally located on the same site, it’s also very robust. It lasts over 120 years on average, therefore minimising the costs of maintenance and repairs. What’s more, the architects chose wood from sustainable forestry for the building’s interior. To ensure exceptional energy efficiency, insulation was added to the brick building’s facade and the long ribbon windows are triple glazed with a special solar coating. Combined with heat recovery from the lab air in the research building, around one third of the heat required is therefore saved and the primary energy demand reduced even further.

Flexible floor plans for sustainable usage

The new biology centre’s lecture theatres, seminar spaces or offices are all fit for purpose. Which is why flexible room sizes and floor plans in the new build were a must. Because, in future, the goal is to convert areas like labs into offices easily. The whole building is planned based on a grid, so that walls are straightforward to move if required. At the same time, it was vital that partitions weren’t obstructed by any permanent power and data sockets. Which is why the architects fitted the offices out with power towers and suspended service booms that can remain in place if layouts and furniture change.

Customisable connectivity

To ensure a modular power supply, BP-Consult’s Peter Balzer and team added EVOline Up to the lecture theatres. The power outlet strips were fitted flush with the table frame. The socket tops in grey are an understated feature underneath the table. The front rows of seats have EVOline OneLock single sockets in the tabletop to enable convenient and barrier-free connection of charger cables while people are sitting down. OneLock can’t be removed, which makes it ideal for public areas in universities. In offices, the versatile Dock Square socket system on desktops ensures perfectly organised workspaces with demand-driven power supplies, which Neudoerfler Office Systems helped to put into place. And then there’s EVOline Express under the desks with its modular power supply and power outlet strips where required. EVOline Express is made of non-flammable and halogen-free plastics, which makes it even safer. A special design of EVOline Vertical in collaboration with Rowa-Moser proved to be an ideal solution for power and data connections. At a height of 1.20 metres, it’s a particularly space-saving, barrier-free solution for all the connections. The top half of the EVOline Vertical comes with four power sockets and the bottom half with four data ports and four computer sockets. As a result, the media tower is split into two areas. Anyone can use the top half and the bottom is only for use with computers.

The design of the biology centre was to be future proof and sustainable. And, of course, the coronavirus pandemic revealed how crucial flexible workspaces are. Thanks to perfect fixtures and fittings that are versatile options in all the different room concepts, the new teaching and research centre is sustainable and will last for a long time to come. EVOline’s smart power solutions in the new research hub in Vienna mean that researchers and students can now go about their business efficiently.

About Schulte - Elektrotechnik

Schulte - Elektrotechnik developed EVOline. In 1964, Siegfried Schulte started an engineering business in Lüdenscheid – and is still working on his vision of making electrical products safer and more intelligent. As a provider of modular system solutions for power and data connections, EVOline develops products for the entire range of power solutions in office environments or homes. Today, Schulte - Elektrotechnik has more than 30 sales partners worldwide. All EVOline products are manufactured, with a high degree of vertical integration, by around 170 employees at Schulte - Elektrotechnik in Lüdenscheid. The high proportion of manual work carried out in the production process guarantees first-class craftsmanship. EVOline has garnered several design accolades, for example, the Red Dot Award, the Iconic Award for Innovative Interiors, the Interzum Award in the High Product Quality category and was a Winner of the German Innovation Award in 2019 alone. Schulte - Elektrotechnik has already spent more than five decades producing solutions in Germany in an energy-efficient, green manner.