The City of Vienna employs building codes and housing subsidies to influence both the buildings themselves and their construction process. In addition, they affect the process of planning and building itself. As a result of compulsory requirements laid down in the competition process for the projects, most have much better thermal qualities than are mandated in
the building code, meeting the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. Additional ecological measures include rainwater and gray-water recycling as well as solar and wind energy. Many new “passive houses” no longer require traditional heating at all.
Text: Wolfgang Förster
