The Austria House is special house – visitors will notice it once they step a foot into the house. The Infopoint sponsored by Enerbuild (ENERgy Efficiency and Renewable Energies in the BUILDing Sector in the Alpine Space) will enhance the visit to the Austria House.

Soon, visitors will be able to get comprehensive information about the Austria House, energy efficient building in the Alpine Space as well as Whistler’s sustainability program. Via touch screen, visitors can click through the information, view short clips and listen to audio files.
All partners, supporters and sponsors are also introduced in the Infopoint.

Thanks to the coordinator Franz Rüf of the company Telesis for his great support! www.telesis.eu

On 7th January 2010 APG’s Austria House was officially presented with a klima:aktiv certificate, making the start of the New Year perfect for the Olympic Austria House.
klima:aktiv is an initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management for active climate protection and is also part of the Austrian climate strategy encouraging environmental protection, reducing CO2 emissions through several programs, and campaigning for greater utilization of renewable energy sources.
“The klima:aktiv building standard provides a quality assessment for buildings which comply with criteria for energy efficiency, ecology and comfort at the highest level.” (Source: http://www.klimaaktiv.at/article/archive/27218/) The Austria House was inspected and evaluated according to this strict list of criteria, and owing to its excellent energy-efficient and ecological characteristics it was awarded the klima:aktiv certificate.

It has taken just a few weeks to build the Austria House, but it took the basalt lava natural stone more than 150,000 years to find its way into the house at Whistler as tiles. And the stone would probably last another 150,000 years, if the house could last such a long time. In addition to its wonderful open-pored structure this natural stone is particularly characterized by its hardness and durability.

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At the same time as the official presentation of the Austria House at Igls, and at times broadcasting a live feed to them, 250 enthusiastic guests celebrated with a Sneak Peak at Whistler. Nobody wanted to miss out on this event. A group of First Nations people, originally from the land where the house has been built, opened the festivities with traditional songs. Mayor Ken Melamed, President of the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, Dave Brownlie, and Trade Commissioner and Austrian Consul, Robert Luck, all emphasized once more that this project is a very unique one and that the interested Canadian public holds this achievement of Austrian industry in high regard. This project is a clear win-win situation for the community of Whistler as well as for the companies involved. Whistler receives a unique house for further utilization after the Games and APG and all the sponsors retain a showcase in Canada, which will make their market entrance much easier. The presence of architects and constructors made it obvious, once again, that a growing market for energy-efficient building is developing in Canada.

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The first Austria House built with passive house construction has officially been presented.

Bregenz, Igls, November 26, 2009 - With the Austria House, Austria is at the forefront for the 2010 Olympic Games in Canada. The building - constructed as passive house - is considered to be a showcase in respect of energy efficiency. On Thursday evening the constructor, the Austrian Passive House Group (APG), together with the Austrian Olympic Comité (ÖOC) and the Canadian Embassy officially presented the building to the public for the first time. People at Igls, Tyrol were able to follow the inauguration of the building by a group of Canadian First Nations people via a live connection with the Austria House at Whistler.

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Goodbye, Pfiati, auf Wiedersehen! Their time is up – the men from Sohm, Freisinger and Rusch have packed their bags as their work is done. The construction, the windows, the roof and the exterior are finished. Progress on the Austria House is so far advanced that members of staff from Dürfeld and local subcontractors can now proceed with the interior fittings. The floors will be laid later by members of staff from Mendiger Basalt, and of course Reinhard from Drexel and Weiss will be coming to install the passive house technology.

The men from Alberschwende and Ebbs were sad at the thought of their departure from Canada. This project has been special from the start. The fact that they were able to travel to Canada for this construction, the enormous public interest in their work and the fact that this is the Austria House for the Olympic Games, all meant that they carried out their work with special dedication. Farewell to them, they have done a very good job and will be welcome at any time.

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The exterior work at the house is nearly finished now. There are only a few areas which haven’t yet been covered with Eternit panels, so soon it will be fully weatherproof. The current summery temperatures at Whistler allow for steady progress, ensuring that the rest will be accomplished in the near future.

Nevertheless there are still a lot of things to do, including the fine-tuning which make a house into a passive house. All the wiring passages will be masked to make them airtight in order to avoid thermal bridges afterwards and the windows will have additional adhesive film added to the insulation to make them absolutely airproof. So there is plenty of work to do in addition to the upcoming interior fittings.

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Feedback from Mayor Ken Melamed - We have been receiving enthusiastic feedback about the house, and the speed at which it has been erected. Residents, visitors and the media have expressed great interest and are very positive about the project, the legacy it will leave Whistler and the inspiring technology and design.

We are truly grateful to all of you and the wonderful gift you have given Whistler.
Mayor Ken Melamed

'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.

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