Vienna’s RHW.2 building is the first office tower in the world to receive Passive House certification.

The building, home to 900 employees of the Austrian Raiffeisen-Holding Group, achieved the standard for meeting the criteria of the Passive House Institute. It is characterized by superior indoor air quality and minimal energy consumption.

“This building proves once again that the Passive House standard and good architecture are perfectly compatible,” says Dr. Wolfgang Feist, director of the Passive House Institute.

The building receives energy from a photovoltaic system as well as a combined heat, cooling and power plant. Cooling comes in part from the nearby Danube Canal, while waste heat from the building’s data centre is captured and re-used. As a result of these systems, the heating and cooling demand has been reduced by 80 per cent in comparison to conventional highrise buildings.

The deciding factor to award the certification was the radically increased efficiency of the building facade, building component connections and mechanical systems.