Awards ÖGUT Environmental Prize 2009 / Burgenland Architecture Prize 2010

project type production facility with shop in

energy standard Passivehouse

location St. Andrä am Zicksee, AUT

client Vera & Albert Leeb

architecture Architects Collective

floor area 450 m²

completion 2009

construction cost €400.000 

The Leeb family fruit orchard is located on the outskirts of St Andrä along a busy state road. The new building consists of a processing facility for fruit with adjoining rooms for sales oriented towards the west. The structure was built in passive house energy-standard and  consists mainly of prefabricated elements. The processing hall consists of precast walls which are mounted on a wooden frame. The sales and additional rooms were constructed with prefabricated self-supporting panels. The front surface of the entire building is made of OSB which has been stained brown and green several times. Two 5 x 6 m large sliding doors transform the building from a closed to an open cubic structure. Environmental and sustainable aspects of the building were observed in this structure particularly in the materials and in all stages of the planning and execution. Ways of prioritizing renewable resources, recycled materials and upcycled furniture were used. These include using old advertising banners as movable shading elements, used bicycle tubes as ceiling lamps and old vineyard posts as markers in the concrete parking surface.