Research Projects
There are 47 results.
Re-Use: Holzhaus (Re-Use – Timberhouse) - Scenarios of conduction for Repair, Refurbish & Repurpose of prefabricated timber houses
The Re-Use: Holzhaus project deals with the recyclability of prefabricated wooden components, which are generally used for single-family homes and small apartment buildings and have both a long tradition and a diverse manufacturing structure in Austria. The project aims to take significant steps along the entire value chain to make components from the past more attractive as secondary raw materials and to prepare future prefabricated houses for this purpose in the best possible way.
Wärmezukunft Steyr - Innovative Models for Climate-Neutral Heat Supply in Steyr
The project aims to establish the foundation for a climate-neutral, socially inclusive, and economically viable heating and cooling system in a pioneer city. It combines technical planning with governance approaches and the development of business and operator models. A special focus is placed on anergy networks, which - despite high upfront investments - offer strong potential for low-temperature, dual-purpose heating and cooling supply.
CITYGovernance - Adjustments in the innovation ecosystem around regulatory framework conditions
The aim of the R&D service was to gain insights on obstacles and barriers to the overarching governance for achieving the goal of "climate neutrality of Austrian cities", to structure them and to prepare them in a publishable study. The study focuses on the areas of energy, buildings and mobility and contain recommendations for action on the necessary framework conditions and need for change.
CoSpatial Heat - Joint spatial coordination of heat supply in Gleisdorf
CoSpatial Heat is developing an integrated, geodata-based heating and gas supply planning concept for the Gleisdorf region. By jointly considering space heating, process heat, and gas infrastructure, future supply, expansion, and decommissioning areas are identified. The systemic integration of GIS analyses, consumption data, energy audits, and stakeholder knowledge generates robust decision-making foundations for municipalities, industry, and network operators.
MARGRET Bioshade - Building Physics-Based Quantification of the Shading and Cooling Performance of Building Greening
The MARGRET Bioshade project investigates the impact of building greening on energy efficiency, climate adaptation, and building assessment. Its focus is on quantifying the shading performance of vertical greening systems, analyzing the water balance and evaporative cooling effects of different greening solutions, and developing standardized parameters for planning, simulation, and technical guidelines.
SIMPLE AD Evaluator - S.I.M.P.L.E. Sustainable Integration Modeling and Predictive Leveraging Evaluator
The SIMPLE AD Evaluator fills an existing gap in sustainable local planning by providing a low-threshold and collaborative evaluation tool for early planning phases. By linking questionnaires with System Dynamics models, the tool delivers well-founded decision-making foundations and customized sustainability checklists. This supports municipalities, project developers, and decision-makers in achieving a strategic and cost-efficient sustainable transformation from concept to implementation.
DEKARBOdezentral - Cost-effective Implementation of Decentralised Decarbonisation in Residential Buildings
The project explores cost-effective, decentralised heat pump solutions as an alternative to gas-fired floor combi boilers in existing flats. By utilising existing infrastructures such as chimney shafts, minimally invasive decarbonisation is enabled without comprehensive building refurbishment.
ReNew Lindenplatz - Resolving key transformation conflicts for a climate-resilient redevelopment of the Lindenplatz district in Kapfenberg
The exploratory project ReNew Lindenplatz develops a transferable planning approach for climate-neutral and climate-resilient small and medium-sized cities, using the historic old-town district around Lindenplatz and Hauptplatz in Kapfenberg as a case study. Through interdisciplinary analyses, participatory processes and scenario-based development of alternatives, an integrated transformation concept for the district will be developed. The results will form the basis for a subsequent demonstration project and provide transferable solution approaches for other small Austrian pioneer cities.
BROWNFIELD-PV Leoben - Sondierung einer PV-Anlage auf der in Nachsorge befindlichen städtischen Deponie Seegraben (Leoben)
The project develops an innovative multi-benefit approach for urban landfill photovoltaics by integrating methane oxidation, biodiversity-enhancing vegetation, and inclusive citizen participation.
LoPQ - Local Heat together - Pioneer Quarters for Neighborhood Heat and Colling Supply and Quarter Renovation
LoPQ develops integrated supply and renovation concepts for urban quarters by coupling anergy networks with renewable energy sources. From 20 initial sites, five pilot quarters will be selected for detailed feasibility studies, with one final quarter proposed for a follow-up R&D&I project. The interdisciplinary consortium combines expertise in technology, geosciences, and economics to create inaugural, holistic operating and financing models. Scaling these solutions addresses an investment volume of €1.9 billion and a CO2 reduction potential of approximately 25,600 t per year.
ReSpace – Reclaiming Spaces
ReSpace is developing an AI-based model for identifying, categorizing, and activating sealed areas. Existing data sources (aerial and satellite images, mobile network data, land registry entries) are integrated and enhanced with dynamic analysis to derive evidence-based recommendations for action.
Densifying without Sealing - Research on the sustainable transformation of existing single-family neighbourhoods
Interdisciplinary research to develop and test a new approach for significantly increasing density in existing single-family neighbourhoods without adding any new sealed land, by strategically extending buildings upwards within their current footprint. The project delivers a practical decision basis to pave the way for a demonstration project supporting climate-resilient urban development.
Urban Sky - Satellite-based planning and analysis applications for climate-neutral and resilient cities
The project investigates how satellite data can support cities and municipalities (e.g. urban development, spatial energy planning, mobility transition). Based on demand and potential analyses, service concepts will be derived that integrate existing data and tools with satellite applications. The results will be presented in a study and a Space4Cities implementation roadmap.
ReBuildStock - Portfolio management for the decarbonisation of larger housing stocks
Portfolio management method to support the decision-making processes of owners of larger housing stocks in developing strategies for the rapid and socially responsible decarbonisation of their building stock.
ReCapture - Rapid Capture and Precise Analysis of the Building Envelope as a Basis for Circular Economy in the Existing Building Stock
The goal of the study is to evaluate a novel sensor- and AI-based technology for automated detection, semantic segmentation, and 3D modeling of building envelopes.
Mind the gap - Development of a Directional Drilling Method for Shallow Geothermal Energy
The project develops a miniaturised directional drilling method enabling geothermal boreholes to be installed beneath existing buildings, addressing a major gap in densely built urban areas. By drilling from accessible edge zones and keeping all probes on private land, permitting procedures are simplified and public-space interventions minimized. The study assesses technical, regulatory and economic feasibility and forms the basis for subsequent prototype development.
QS-winmount - Quality-Assured, Practice-Tested, Sustainable and Prefabricated Window Installation for Renovation and New Construction
The QS-winmount project is developing a sustainable, innovative, prefabricated window pre-wall mounting frame that integrates thermal bridge-free design, airtightness, solar shading, ventilation with heat recovery, fall protection, and fire protection.
InSite - Monitoring and evaluation of innovative demonstration buildings
In the "Stadt der Zukunft" and "Smart City Initiative" programmes, a large number of demonstration projects have been implemented in recent years. To be able to evaluate the developed innovations in a uniform and comparable form and to make the knowledge gained accessible to implementers, InSite subjects 10 selected objects from these programmes to energy and ecological monitoring as well as sociological surveys over a period of 24 months. The interpreted results are publicly available as a published study and as an interactive online platform.
MARGRET - Measurement of greened/non-greened objects for the adaptation of calculation models
Development of measurement methods to determine the influence of greening measures on greened versus non-greened reference objects with contemporary building standards under uniform framework conditions. Proposals for adaptations of calculation models or standards to e.g. enable an integration in the energy performance certificate.
MidSKliN – Minimally invasive dynamic rehabilitation taking into account climate change adaptation, CO₂ emissions and grid compatibility
The project aims to develop and demonstrate minimal renovation measures at the building envelope level using modular, technically easy-to-implement building technology solutions for decisive CO2 reduction and climate adaptation in urban building stock.