Energy-efficient construction with timber
The LifeCycle Tower
Vorarlberg is a role model within Europe for the coexistence of regional construction methods and modern architecture, especially when it comes to energy efficiency and ecologically sound construction methods.
The region seeks peak performance, endeavouring to achieve energy autonomy by the year 2050. This means producing all of its required annual energy from renewable sources.
The possibilities when it comes to construction are illustrated by a current project in Dornbirn: The world’s first modular timber-hybrid high-rise building with the efficiency of a passive house.
The LifeCycle Tower
The LifeCycle Tower (LCT) is an energy-efficient timber-hybrid high-rise with a stairwell made from concrete and prefabricated timber construction elements at its core. By relying on system-construction methods with prefabricated elements, an LCT with up to 30 floors and a height of 100 m can be erected in no time.
The 27-metre tall, eight-floor LifeCycle Tower One (LCT One) was erected using system-construction methods in mid November 2012. Many modules are prefabricated and were assembled on site. The interest in this flagship project is keen: More than 1,000 visitors from all over Europe have visited since the end of March.
The global environmental outlook illustrates the need for new strategies. Or perhaps a single idea, like the construction of large-volume hybrid buildings, which are sustainably built and consist of natural building materials like timber. Timber is the building material of the future and already fulfils all necessary characteristics required by innovative urban architecture. And, best of all, its all natural!
In 2013, the LifeCycle Tower One was awarded the “Vorarlberger Holzbaupreis” for timber construction in the category “innovative use of timber.” It also received recognition from “Constructive Alps”, an international architecture award.
The prototype in Dornbirn is primarily used as an office space. For visitors, there is a permanent exhibition about the prototype. Guided tours are possible upon request: LCT One and further projects
Illwerke Zentrum Montafon
Size need not be measured in height. On behalf of the Vorarlberger Illwerke AG, the company Cree erected a LifeCycle Tower with a length of 120 m and nearly 10,000 m2 of useable space in Montafon called IZM (Illwerke Zentrum Montafon). This five-story administrative building with a transparent facade provides quality office space and a view of the surrounding landscape. For the timber-specialists at Cree, the Illwerke Zentrum Montafon (IZM) in Vandans is proof that its innovative timber-hybrid building system works in the real world.
Founded in 2010 in Dornbirn, CREE (Creative Resource & Energy Efficiency) develops innovative ideas and strategies for better and more sustainable construction in harmony with the natural environment. By making use of new technologies, resource and energy usage should be reduced throughout the entire life cycle of a building for the benefit of the environment. Specialising in timber construction, the company wants to build a timber-hybrid high-rise with 30 floors and a height of 100 m, capable of minimising the use of energy and other resources from the planning stage to dismantling. In this way, the LCT (LifeCycle Tower) system is truly means to an end.