vivihouse
DIY-friendly modular building system designed for inclusion.
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DIY-friendly modular building system designed for inclusion.
Last updated
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by Nikolas Kichler, Mikka Fürst, Paul Adrian Schulz and Dilay Türe
The rapid pace of urbanisation leads to considerable environmental risks and also restricts the participation of citizens. With the increasing size and complexity of construction projects, the legal requirements become even more demanding, so that the circle of people who are actually capable of taking action is dwindling. In order to enable everyone to contribute to the creation of ecological and attractive urban living environments, a group of architects initiated vivihouse project by 2017. Financed by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund and supported by the Vienna University of Technology, it became possible to bring together civil engineers, mechanical engineers, building technicians and straw bale experts to create a building system focusing on inclusion, multi-storey buildings and environmental protection. Inclusion has been implemented in this building system on three levels: It is DIY-friendly for makers, openly licensed for designers and based on a column grid optimized for the changing needs of its users across the storeys. The number of components requiring professionals is reduced to a minimum, so that major parts such as exterior walls and ceiling elements can be created also by inexperienced participants.
In addition, most of these elements enable extensive adaptations depending on local needs, tastes, available materials, climates and modes of production. Since these parts are openly licensed, but the interfaces remain identical, all kinds of approaches can coexist, which allows a very high variety of needs to be fulfilled. All building elements are prefabricated in a safe and weatherproof environment at ground level and subsequently get joined together by crane. According to the Austrian Fire Protection Directive, the level of six storeys still permits the visibility of natural materials, which is why this scope was chosen as the maximum height for vivihouse structures. The 90-minute fire load is carried by the columns in order to free the non-load-bearing exterior walls from this requirement. To date, all existing vivihouses have been insulated by 36 cm straw bales, a locally available agricultural waste material, to create healthy and energy-efficient interior spaces. Future generations will be able to maintain, reuse and transform building parts as circumstances change, keeping resources in circular ecosystems. Maximum flexibility is ensured as all components are demountable, transportable and reusable. By the end of 2018, a first single-storey prototype had been assembled in Lower Austria. This provided insights into the transportability of the parts, the adequate tolerances and the experimental use of timber nodes. In November 2019, this first building will be dismantled and its parts reused and combined with new parts to combine a three-storey building in Vienna. The opening by the end of 2019 will be combined with an exhibition about the project and the experiences so far. With vivihouse, everyone will be able to create healthy and vibrant urban settlements for themselves and all of us. Do not hesitate and make use of this open approach.
