'Gleichenfeier', 'Dachgleiche', 'Richtfest', topping-out ceremony, or roofing ceremony! Whatever it’s called, it’s celebrated everywhere and so too at Whistler. Here you celebrate once the house is fully roofed though, while in Austria we have the ceremony once the building shell and the roof beams are built. However, the construction of the Austria House was carried out so quickly that the house has already been roofed too.

As you would expect at such a ceremony, there was also a topping-out tree, a speech, and drinks and food – a real party. Jürgen Freudensprung and Freybe provided authentic Austrian Speck and sausages for the ceremony, and the Whistler Brewery provided beer for the occasion. The delicious food and wonderful drinks meant that nobody wanted for anything. Julius proved that he isn’t just good at building but also at barbecuing, while an overjoyed Manfred explained the details of this construction method to the guests. Some of them tried their luck as bartenders and pulled pints, and of course there was also music. Two German members of staff from Dürfeld, Reinhardt and Alex, turned out to be brilliant accordion players and they entertained the guests with Tyrolean music, performed with virtuosity.

Pictures to this in the gallery

The speech at the topping-out ceremony was given by Matheo and Helene in turn, and in her obituary Heather commemorated the memory of Paulus, who was a moving spirit in this project and who, along with others, also initiated it. Everybody at this ceremony particularly missed him on this special day.

Among the many guests there was also the Mayor of Whistler, the Director of the Planning Department with his staff, some of the Whistler Administration Department and, last but not least, the Austrian Honorary Consul from Vancouver. They paid tribute to Martin, Reinhardt, Markus, Gebhardt, and Stefan, the master builder of Sohm, to the roofers Jürgen, Patrick, and Benedikt from Rusch, to the window constructors Klaus Freisinger and Christian, as well as to the members of staff from Dürfeld - project manager Manfred, Julius, Christian and Michel. No one could have envisaged what this team managed to create: to build a house in Whistler, pre-fabricated in Austria, within a few days, and with such high quality work. So the topping-out ceremony was celebrated and everybody taking part became witness to this wonderful achievement.

© Austria House, Austrian Passive House Group (APG): Drexel und Weiss, Optiwin, Erich Reiner, Sohm Holzbautechnik, Zweiraum.