The December 2010 opening of the hotel tower, designed by Pritzker prize-winner Jean Nouvel, represents a high point in Vienna’s architectural development – also in environmental terms. In its role as a builder, the UNIQA Group was able to add another unique building next to the UNIQA Tower on the Danube canal, sending a signal for quality, sustainability and the courage to undertake extraordinary projects. The Nouvel Tower’s high environmental standards are represented by the 600 m2 “green wall” by artist Patrick Blanc – an external symbol of the comprehensive energy and environmental protection measures implemented in the course of construction. The wall consists of 200,000 plants that were planted vertically in a steel frame along the neighbouring fire wall.
UNIQA invested about €2.6 million worth of energy-saving measures in the technical building systems alone. Underground retention tanks, which help cool the building in summer and warm it in the winter, as well as the innovative use of well water to cool the facade, ensure high energy efficiency. Furthermore, 320 small heating pumps regulate heating and cooling in the summer and fall, and in summer, 216 m2 of solar panels on the roof supply the entire hotel with hot water.
The UNIQA Tower, which opened in 2004, is already known as a progressive building with exemplary climate protection measures: In 2008, it was awarded the Facility Prize from the Academy for Technical Building Equipment and the EU Green Building Certificate from the Austrian Energy Agency. The tower, recognised by the Austrian Energy Agency as an “energy-conscious new building”, is the first new office building in Austria and one of the first buildings in Europe to receive this EU certificate.
