Metro, St. Pölten – Austria’s first BREEAM Outstanding building in 10 years
The new Metro Cash & Carry in St. Pölten, Austria by architects Poppe*Prehal.
Learn how Andreas Prehal designed a BREEAM Outstanding market made of wood
Learn how Andreas Prehal designed a BREEAM Outstanding market made of wood
When Metro put a tender out to architects and general planners for their new St.Pölten Metro store there was one key requirement: the new building should be a zero emissions building. For Architect Poppe*Prehal this was a challenge they knew they could rise to, and even exceed – they pushed the new Metro to achieve Outstanding BREEAM status. ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems met with Andreas Prehal to discuss how he ensured the new Metro achieved zero emissions while still optimising the flow of people and goods, and creating a great looking building.
The importance of an optimised building shell
The Metro store in St. Pölten is a zero emissions building. Poppe*Prehal started with a wooden building shell. That shell is then optimised by thinking about every detail: from using the finest wooden materials in the structure to selecting windows and entrances that contribute to the building’s efficiency. Insulated Isodock dock levellers from ASSA ABLOY were the last part to complete the insulated building shell. Without insulated loading bays a great deal of heat and energy would have been lost every day during the loading and unloading of goods – so they were a critical addition.
Meeting BREEAM Outstanding
At the Metro store in St. Pölten, meeting the standard regulations was easy enough. The real challenge, architect Andreas Prehal tells us, was making sure that the building complied with all the requirements to achieve an Outstanding BREEAM certification – a certification that only 2% of buildings achieve.
The elements that already make the building zero emissions – solar generated energy, no additional heating or cooling systems, LED lights, the use of sustainable, and sustainably sourced, building materials, automatic doors that only open when they need to, and insulated docking solutions – played a crucial role in achieving BREEAM Outstanding.
Natural materials for a natural aesthetic
Poppe*Prehal architects construct most of their buildings out of wood because, as they see it, building with wood is the only way to create truly sustainable buildings. But it is not only sustainable, it is also an attractive natural product which creates an appealing aesthetic. The Metro store in St. Pölten has a full wooden façade made from spruce. Spruce is naturally grey – an earthy tone, it coordinates with the local landscape: reflecting the local woodland and surrounding agricultural land.
Creating a shopping experience
The new Metro market in St. Pölten has been designed to make it more accessible, easier to navigate and more enjoyable for shoppers to shop, compared to a regular Metro Cash & Carry. While other Metro stores have high shelves and a limited overview of where stock is for customers, the new St. Pölten store is much more user-friendly.
The shopping area is enhanced by reducing the cold shopping areas by about 50%. Only items that really need to be kept cold are in chilled areas, and these are separated from the main shopping area with insulated automatic entrance and exit doors. The automatic doors guide customers through the chilled areas, preventing congestion and unnecessary opening.
BIM – the future of planning, designing and building
While they have been using 3D modelling for the last decade, it was while working on the new Metro that Poppe*Prehal used Building Information Models (BIM) for the first time. They found that BIM was beneficial during the design process because it enhanced communication and coordination with the structural engineers and the team designing the technical elements of the building.
And it’s been such a positive experience that, while there were the inevitable challenges that all new processes present, Andreas Prehal thinks that BIM is the way Poppe*Prehal should build, plan and design buildings in the future.
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