Passive house standard in tenement construction
(Hesse)
This project has been put into the archive. The project details will not be updated anymore.
Source: GWG-Kassel
The multi-storey tenement project in the “Marbachshöhe” area of Kassel (pop. 202.000) was assisted by the EU initiative CEPHEUS (Cost Efficient Passive Houses as European Standards). CEPHEUS is aimed at paving the way for a broad market launch of favourably-priced passive houses in Europe. The programme is designed to demonstrate the technical feasibility and economic viability of various building types. For this reason, the construction of 250 residential units conforming to passive house standards has been assisted and scientifically evaluated in five European countries.
Source: GWG-Kassel
The starting point for the project was the intention of the Kassel public housing association „Wohnungsbaugesellschaft der Stadt Kassel“ (GWG) to realize the construction of new council homes using innovative technologies. In order to focus all the available expert competence on this pioneering project, a construction team comprising architects, engineering specialists and general contractors was formed very early on. A compact 3- to 4-storey architecture was chosen in order to comply with residential housing construction grant cost ceilings. 40 residential units were created in two adjacent buildings featuring a “half drum” and a flat roof, respectively.
The water heating as well as the required residual heating is provided via a district heat grid. A semi-central ventilation system with heat recovery controls the fresh air supply. Window ventilation and the individual controllability of the air temperature and exchangeable air volume remain possible at the same time. In order to lower the energy consumption of the buildings even further, the residents were provided with an advice session on energy-efficient household appliances. After initially experiencing some difficulties in operating the ventilation system, the resident community is now very satisfied with it. In the first year (2000/2001), the heating consumption of the buildings was approximately 17 kWh, despite their partly shaded location and lack of a solar-optimized orientation. The consumption figure hence cuts the corresponding value for a comparable tenement building constructed in compliance with the 1995 thermal insulation act by more than 80%.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1999 | Construction start |
| 2000 | Completion, residents move in |
| 2000 to 2001 | Assessment of actual energy consumption |
| 2001 | Study on user acceptance and behaviour |
Source: GWG-Kassel
Source: Passivhaus Institut, Darmstadt
Source: GWG-Kassel
The projects demonstrate that a passive house standard can also be realized in publicly subsidized multi-storey tenement construction. Typical resident behaviour was taken into account in the application of highly efficient technologies. With the additional support provid ed by targeted energy consultancy, the heating consumption of a similar building featuring “conventional” architecture could be cut by a sum total of 82%.
The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 34131 - town: Kassel - street: Auguste-Förster-Straße/Julie-von-Kästner-Straße.
Record inserted on 01.06.2004 by Lehrstuhl für Planungstheorie und Stadtplanung, RWTH Aachen and updated by theFederal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR).
Last update: 25.10.2011
