Centre of Excellence in Construction and Energy

Since its founding in 2001 Sonnenplatz Großschönau is engaged with the dissemination of energy-efficient and sustainable construction and renovation and sets new trends in construction with the 1st European passiv house village with the Probewohnen® scheme.

The heart of the village is the new research and competence center for construction and energy which is the central coordinating point, where visitors can inform themselves about energy-efficient construction and housing. Start of construction for the research and competence center was spring 2011. The opening ceremony of the research and competence center for construction and energy at the Sonnenplatz Großschönau took place at the 16th November 2011 and was attended by over 350 guests of honor. The best practise project was built in just 9 months of intense construction activity as an energy-plus house. The new center in the heart of the 1st European passiv house village with the Probewohnen® scheme houses offers modern seminar rooms for training and will be expanded by the „Sonnenwelt“, an interactive exhibition about the living history of the last 10,000 years in 2013. On 20th November 2011 about  500 people from the community Großschönau and the neighbouring communities of the climate- and energy model region „Lainsitztal/Umgebung“ visited the open day.

The research center in Großschönau is a multifunctional building complex in passiv house quality (both in solid and timber construction). This research center consists of two buildings: 

Main Building

of the research center, multifunctional, building

• representative entry area for the research center
• seminar rooms for education and training
• office space for administration and research

The research and competence center was built by the Sonnenplatz Großschönau GmbH and the Verein Sonnenplatz Großschönau.

The aim of the research center is, to increasingly establish Sonnenplatz as a research and knowledge platform for construcion/renovation and housing/living in Austria, but also in neighbouring countries. The research center is an ideal extension to the already existing passiv house village.

Many thanks to the supporters: