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U. Pont, A. Mahdavi:
"Architectural Competitions & Sustainability: A Case Study";
Talk: Vienna Young Scientists Symposium 2017, Wien, TU Wien; 2017-06-01 - 2017-06-02; in: "VIENNA young SCIENTISTS SYMPOSIUM", G. Artner, A. Bogadi, J. Grames, I. Hahn, P. Hans, H. Krebs, T. Rouhi (ed.); Book-of-Abstracts, (2017), ISBN: 978-3-9504017-5-2; 148 - 149.

A number of recent initiatives address the thermal building performance of new and existing
buildings. Moreover, in recent years architectural competitions demand the consideration of energy
efficiency and environmental footprint aspects in their requirement documents. However, the
question if and to which extent such aspects influence the jury decisions of competitions remains
open. Toward this end, we present a case study on a competition of a large residential building in
Austria. This competition specifically addressed the energy efficiency of the proposed designs.
Buildings had to be designed in a way that "Passivhaus"-standard could be reached. Participants
were required to add basic information such as proposed wall thickness, glazing orientation, and
building compactness in their project deliverables. In a later stage, independent evaluators assessed
and compared the sustainability of the proposed designs based on a simple point scheme. The
energy performance of the designs was neither calculated by the participants nor by the external
evaluators. In this contribution we evaluate the energy performance of the ranked designs via a
normative energy certification method. Additionally we contrast, in case of one of the participating
architectural firms, the designs with early stage work models and their calculated performance. The
results might offer insights concerning the question if and to which extent the ranked energy
performance of the proposed designs did influence the competition´s ranking.

(no german version available) A number of recent initiatives address the thermal building performance of new and existing
buildings. Moreover, in recent years architectural competitions demand the consideration of energy
efficiency and environmental footprint aspects in their requirement documents. However, the
question if and to which extent such aspects influence the jury decisions of competitions remains
open. Toward this end, we present a case study on a competition of a large residential building in
Austria. This competition specifically addressed the energy efficiency of the proposed designs.
Buildings had to be designed in a way that "Passivhaus"-standard could be reached. Participants
were required to add basic information such as proposed wall thickness, glazing orientation, and
building compactness in their project deliverables. In a later stage, independent evaluators assessed
and compared the sustainability of the proposed designs based on a simple point scheme. The
energy performance of the designs was neither calculated by the participants nor by the external
evaluators. In this contribution we evaluate the energy performance of the ranked designs via a
normative energy certification method. Additionally we contrast, in case of one of the participating
architectural firms, the designs with early stage work models and their calculated performance. The
results might offer insights concerning the question if and to which extent the ranked energy
performance of the proposed designs did influence the competition´s ranking.

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/publik_259919.pdf