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K. Kiesel, U. Pont, A. Mahdavi:
"Including sustainability criteria in architectural completion: A critical case study of current practices";
Advanced Materials Research - Web, 649 (2013), 4 pages.

Architectural projects in Austria, as well as in most other European countries, regularly
mention sustainability as a fundamental factor for the decision-making process. The consideration
of energy performance, environmental performance of materials (embodied energy, reuse or
recycling potential, toxicity), natural ventilation, and daylight availability are typically mentioned in
the list of project aims. In this context, the present contribution looks into requirements of
architectural competitions in Austria. Thereby, we investigated the kinds and depth of
sustainability-related criteria as included in the competition announcements (e.g., hard versus soft
requirements, qualitative versus quantitative benchmarks). Toward this end, two approaches were
selected: A qualitative approach focused on the use of certain terminology within the competition
announcements. The second approach takes a closer look on forms and numeric performance
indicators such as heating demand and OI3 Index (sustainability). Several competition
announcements have been analyzed and compared. It appears that currently the sustainabilityrelated
requirements in competition documentations do not lead to entries, which provide sufficient
information for accountable jury evaluation. Thus, alternative and/or additional comprehensive
indicators of sustainability and ecological performance must be included in a clear and systematic
fashion in architectural competition narratives.

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architectural competitions, sustainability criteria

http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.649.159