GBS 2023 – smiling happy architects and engineers

Find our brand new GBS 2023 report here!

Another successful Green.Building.Solutions. Summer University hosting 54 students from 26 nations has come to an end on Saturday 5th August with a wonderful final celebration in TUtheSky of TU Wien! For the past three weeks the students have immersed themselves into sustainable architecture, passive house technology and green building design, whereas an additional cooperation enabled 12 architecture students from Beirut Arab University to join some GBS lectures and to contribute to the final project design at the Otto Wagner Area in Vienna.

GBS kicked off successfully on Sunday, July 16th with an introduction, a lunch and some get-together activities in Donaupark. Content-wise, the “big picture” of climate change and resource scarcity was conveyed during the opening and accompanied the students throughout the academic program: 10 modules and various contributions dealt with relevant and specific challenges, adaptions and solutions for the building and construction sector.

As part of the final project work, the students were dealing with the protection of artistic and cultural heritage as they re-functionalized two existing pavilions designed and built by architect Otto Wagner at the beginning of the 20th century. For the design project, they could choose between designing a student guest house or a museum. The main aspects to consider in the assignments were energy efficiency and regenerative architecture.

Highlights of this years’ program included excursions in and around Vienna, such as the passathon ending up in Aspern Seestadt including a visit of OeAD student housings’ GreenHouse and Popup dorms, the City Intelligence Lab at Austrian Institute of Technology, a guided tour in Grüner Markt and Bike and Rails passive house in Sonnwendviertel, an architect tour in the awarded TÜWI campus building of BOKU University, a construction site visit about geothermal energy together with the PORR Group as well as the unique light lab at Danube University Krems and the social and ecologically relevant building “Haus des Lernens” in St. Pölten. GBS also offered social activities, such as sports evening, waltzing lessons and a typical Austrian dinner at a “Heurigen”.

Together with the Alternative Economic and Monetary Systems, GBS also hosted public events, such as the Grand Opening at Universität Wien, a panel discussion about “Central Bank Digital Currencies, Sovereign Money and the Modern Monetary Theory”, and a movie night screening “2040”.

Finally, we would like to congratulate our overall 66 students and professionals from 27 nations for a successful participation, great collaborations, and for producing excellent design results under very tight conditions!

Our sincere appreciation also goes to our lecturers, sponsors and partners - who made this year's GBS possible as well as to the GBS team 2023 who did a great job, too!

Thank you for your dedication and for a wonderful collaboration & which made the 13th GBS a unique summer experience for everybody!