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Grosswärmepumpe
Grosswärmepumpe
Vienna, Austria
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Other Projects by smartvoll
Grosswärmepumpe
Vienna, Austria
BUNDLE OF ENERGY
A LARGE-SCALE HEAT PUMP FOR WIEN ENERGIE
On the grounds of Vienna’s main wastewater treatment plant, a new machine hall is being built. Inside, the residual heat from purified water will be transformed into energy for up to 112,000 Viennese households. What at first sounds complex can be reduced to a simple equation:
Wastewater – Impurities = Water + Energy
Vienna’s 11th district borders the city to the southeast and lies directly on the Danube Canal. The area has always been shaped by industry and is of enormous importance for the city’s infrastructure. Alongside the well-known Central Cemetery, the 11th district was also home to Vienna’s first gas plant, and to this day it hosts industrial operations of all kinds—since 1980, including the city’s main wastewater treatment plant.
Geographically well-situated at one of the lowest points in the city and directly next to the Danube Canal, more than 500,000 liters of wastewater from households and industry are treated here every day.
The incoming wastewater passes through several stages of purification: first it is separated from solid matter, then freed of pollutants. After just 20 hours and numerous complex steps, the water is cleaned and of such high quality that it can be returned to the natural water cycle via the Danube.
Wastewater treatment is energy-intensive and until recently accounted for about 1% of Vienna’s total electricity consumption. Since 2021, however, not only solar, wind, and hydropower have been used, but also sewage sludge—formerly just a waste product—has been processed into an energy source. As a result, the treatment plant can now operate energy self-sufficiently, even producing more electricity and heat than it consumes itself.
Energy can also be recovered from the already purified water. To ensure that no resource goes unused, in the future the clean water will pass through a large-scale heat pump before flowing back into the Danube. Even from the minimal residual heat in the water, the system can generate energy—enough to supply 12% of Vienna’s private households with heat.
Although the machine hall housing the large heat pump is a purely functional building, function does not automatically mean a dull, introverted standard solution—quite the opposite. As a contemporary industrial building, it should reflect the innovative energy process taking place inside. A simple structural framework is clad along its length with folded sheet metal, complemented at the ends by translucent channel-glass façades. While the form is dictated by technical parameters, the fanned-out northeast façade and the interplay of materials ensure that no side of the building looks the same.
From the outside, the sprawling site of the wastewater treatment plant is not visible, and the process of water purification is hardly perceptible. The new machine hall, however, creates the opportunity for a façade facing the street—a large surface for communicating the processes inside. The location is frequented mainly because of the adjacent shopping center, which is almost exclusively accessed by car. For the façade to serve more than just its own purpose, the design intervention must be easily recognizable and quickly understandable—even from a distance, such as the opposite parking lot.
But how does one visualize a technical process that turns wastewater into energy?
A generic green façade to symbolize ecology would be too arbitrary—especially since plants play no role in the process itself.
Instead, the chosen communication design focuses on the core theme: generating energy from water. It must be intuitive—graspable at a glance, even while driving past. Caustic patterns fulfill both requirements while also serving as an unusual visual highlight.
Even if the term itself is unfamiliar, everyone knows the shimmering, moving shadows cast by water on a sunny day at the pool, or when light refracts through a glass of water. Caustic patterns emerge because photons—i.e. energy—are reflected from the water’s surface. What better way, then, to bring water and energy to life on a façade?
A water basin in front of the street-facing wall reflects the surface movement as caustic patterns onto the façade. Thus, a static functional building becomes a dynamic and vibrant bundle of energy, communicating its inner workings to the outside world in a direct and transparent way. In addition, integrated LEDs on the main façade can display text and graphics. The equation Wastewater – Impurities = Water + Energy could, in an abstracted form, illustrate the fascinating transformation processes taking place inside the building.
A LARGE-SCALE HEAT PUMP FOR WIEN ENERGIE
On the grounds of Vienna’s main wastewater treatment plant, a new machine hall is being built. Inside, the residual heat from purified water will be transformed into energy for up to 112,000 Viennese households. What at first sounds complex can be reduced to a simple equation:
Wastewater – Impurities = Water + Energy
Vienna’s 11th district borders the city to the southeast and lies directly on the Danube Canal. The area has always been shaped by industry and is of enormous importance for the city’s infrastructure. Alongside the well-known Central Cemetery, the 11th district was also home to Vienna’s first gas plant, and to this day it hosts industrial operations of all kinds—since 1980, including the city’s main wastewater treatment plant.
Geographically well-situated at one of the lowest points in the city and directly next to the Danube Canal, more than 500,000 liters of wastewater from households and industry are treated here every day.
The incoming wastewater passes through several stages of purification: first it is separated from solid matter, then freed of pollutants. After just 20 hours and numerous complex steps, the water is cleaned and of such high quality that it can be returned to the natural water cycle via the Danube.
Wastewater treatment is energy-intensive and until recently accounted for about 1% of Vienna’s total electricity consumption. Since 2021, however, not only solar, wind, and hydropower have been used, but also sewage sludge—formerly just a waste product—has been processed into an energy source. As a result, the treatment plant can now operate energy self-sufficiently, even producing more electricity and heat than it consumes itself.
Energy can also be recovered from the already purified water. To ensure that no resource goes unused, in the future the clean water will pass through a large-scale heat pump before flowing back into the Danube. Even from the minimal residual heat in the water, the system can generate energy—enough to supply 12% of Vienna’s private households with heat.
Although the machine hall housing the large heat pump is a purely functional building, function does not automatically mean a dull, introverted standard solution—quite the opposite. As a contemporary industrial building, it should reflect the innovative energy process taking place inside. A simple structural framework is clad along its length with folded sheet metal, complemented at the ends by translucent channel-glass façades. While the form is dictated by technical parameters, the fanned-out northeast façade and the interplay of materials ensure that no side of the building looks the same.
From the outside, the sprawling site of the wastewater treatment plant is not visible, and the process of water purification is hardly perceptible. The new machine hall, however, creates the opportunity for a façade facing the street—a large surface for communicating the processes inside. The location is frequented mainly because of the adjacent shopping center, which is almost exclusively accessed by car. For the façade to serve more than just its own purpose, the design intervention must be easily recognizable and quickly understandable—even from a distance, such as the opposite parking lot.
But how does one visualize a technical process that turns wastewater into energy?
A generic green façade to symbolize ecology would be too arbitrary—especially since plants play no role in the process itself.
Instead, the chosen communication design focuses on the core theme: generating energy from water. It must be intuitive—graspable at a glance, even while driving past. Caustic patterns fulfill both requirements while also serving as an unusual visual highlight.
Even if the term itself is unfamiliar, everyone knows the shimmering, moving shadows cast by water on a sunny day at the pool, or when light refracts through a glass of water. Caustic patterns emerge because photons—i.e. energy—are reflected from the water’s surface. What better way, then, to bring water and energy to life on a façade?
A water basin in front of the street-facing wall reflects the surface movement as caustic patterns onto the façade. Thus, a static functional building becomes a dynamic and vibrant bundle of energy, communicating its inner workings to the outside world in a direct and transparent way. In addition, integrated LEDs on the main façade can display text and graphics. The equation Wastewater – Impurities = Water + Energy could, in an abstracted form, illustrate the fascinating transformation processes taking place inside the building.
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