Grüne Erde World – Visitor Center + Production, Pettenbach, Austria

“Grüne Erde-Welt” is the name of the newly constructed visitors center of the company "Grüne Erde". The public is warmly invited to come witness the production of textiles, mattresses, upholstered furniture, and natural cosmetics, to shop, and to eat at the vegetarian organic bistro.
Like the company that stands for environmental responsibility and high quality, the project had, from the beginning, goals for sustainability: only natural resources (no synthetic materials) should be used for the construction, the building’s operation should be climate-neutral, and, especially relevant for Transsolar, energy should be supplied only from on-site resources.
Via an integrated design process, Transsolar developed the energy and environmental concept, which includes strategies for thermal comfort, air quality, solar gains, shading and daylight. Dynamic simulations were used to optimize ventilation and daylight. The 13 vegetated atriums represent innovation for both architecture and air quality: Sized between 20 and 30 m², they maximize daylight penetration to the building interior and they are key for natural ventilation.
The visitors’ center is a net-zero energy building: The energy needs for heating, cooling and electric energy to run exhibition, show production and special areas are balanced on an annual basis. The building uses natural ventilation except when outdoor temperatures are too cold. In this case, the mechanical ventilation system with high efficiency heat recovery is used. The activated floor conditions the space, with thermal energy coming from the geothermal system. Electric energy is provided by 6000 m² of building-integrated photovoltaics. The “Grüne ErdeWelt” is made of local wood and recycled concrete; the ecological solution for its insulation is sheep wool. The center was officially opened to visitors in September 2018.

2020 AIT Award 1. Preis Industrie