Exhibition: GAU:DI. European Student Competition On Sustainable architecture

Speakers:

Dietmar Steiner, Az W director
Christian Kühn – dean TU Wien
Andreas Claus Schnetzer and Gregor Pils, winners of the GAU:DI Competition
Marie-Hélène Contal, Directeur-adjoint de l’Institut Français d’Architecture
Jana Revedin, Curator of the student competition

The Gau:di student competition was launched by a network of architecture centres with the aim of developing model projects for sustainable architecture. Students at Vienna University of Technology (supervisors: Karin Stieldorf, Pekka Janhunen) won both first prizes with their projects Palettenhaus (Palette House) and Urban Space Recycling. The Palettenhaus was the only project to be built on a scale of 1:1, and presented at the 2008 Venice Biennial. The environmentally friendly construction of the pavilion consisting of 800 standardised EU palettes was even patented due to the high level of innovation involved. It is designed for use in slums in developing countries or for temporary structures in disaster areas. With a minimalist concept and purist realisation, the project also satisfies aesthetic demands. The pavilion is on view in the Az W courtyard, where it houses an exhibition of the prize-winning projects organised by the IFA (Institut Français d’Architecture).