The Austro Tower represents a further milestone in the development of the business district in Vienna-Erdberg: a state-of-the-art office tower with attractive and ecologically and socially sustainable workspaces. The new building was conceived to meet the urban design guidelines of Vienna City Council and plug into the existing infrastructure of its two neighboring projects, TownTown and TrIIIple.
The project developers SORAVIA commissioned ATP architects engineers with the architectural execution design for the existing design concept and an existing planning application, together with further consultancy services (building physics, fire protection, certification, external areas and transport planning, and seepage and landscape design).
Highest ecological standards
ATP sustain, ATP’s research company for sustainable design and building, accompanied the planning and construction of the tower in order to obtain Platinum Certification from both the Austrian ÖGNI and the international LEED classification systems. One particular success was the switch from conventional local cooling production to sustainable “river energy”: The Austro Tower is heated and cooled with the help of water from the adjacent Danube Canal. Photovoltaic systems on the roof and photovoltaic modules integrated into the glazing of the facade of the top two stories further minimize the energy requirements.
A landmark on Vienna’s Danube Canal
The concept of ATP architects engineers addressed the extraordinary form of the competition design by the consortium AZPML/SHARE Architekten, with its aerodynamic volume, whose “corners” evolve as it climbs skywards. Key aspects of this form-finding process included studies of the performance of the building under wind load and the shading of the surroundings and the adjacent buildings. The optimization of the building services enabled the size of the plant room on the 35th floor to be reduced by 50%. This freed up an area that can be used by employees as a lounge and meeting zone and includes an accessible terrace that is protected from the wind and enjoys spectacular views.
With 38 stories and a height of 136 meters, the Austro Tower is the highest tower in the Business District on the Danube Canal and Austria’s fifth-highest tower. The above-ground Gross Floor Area of around 43,400 m² includes approximately 28,000 m² of flexible office space, a conference zone, and restaurant areas.
