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U. Pont, D.P. Espinosa, M. Schuss, A. Mahdavi:
"Indoor environment, user evaluation and energy use in a "passivhaus" student dormitory";
Talk: BUILDINGS AND ENVIRONMENT 2011 - Visions - Common Practice - Legislation, Bratislava; 2011-10-20; in: "BUILDINGS AND ENVIRONMENT 2011 - Visions - Common Practice - Legislation", R. Rabenseifer et al. (ed.); STU - Nakladateľstvo STU, Bratislava, (2011), Paper ID 35, 10 pages.

Abstract: This paper explores the indoor environment and the user satisfaction in a multi-storey, energy-efficient student dormitory. The building - finished in the year 2009 - is situated in a high density urban area of Vienna, Austria, and was constructed to meet the requirements of a "Passivhaus". To fulfill this standard, the building´s envelope is highly insulated, and a central mechanical
ventilation sytem with heat recovery was implemented. Beneath these highend building technologies, the user behavior has a strong influence on the building´s performance. Previous studies about multi-storey passive houses showed possible issues concerning air quality and comfort levels for users. As a result the energy consumption of the buildings could fluctuate as the user can actively affect the building´s performance. The comfort of the user in a "Passivhaus" with an automated control becomes a crucial element of the overall success of the concept. The user is - in general - not needed for
operating the building systems, but these need to be flexible enough to be able to interact and communicate with the user and allow multi-user accessibility. In this paper the results of a post occupancy evaluation of a student housing project ("Passivhaus" student dormitory in Kandlgasse, Vienna, Austria) are presented as well as the findings about comfort, discomfort, its specific reasons and its connection to energy consumption in this building.

thermal comfort, student dormitory, energy, Vienna, passive house