02 Mar 2015
Rudiger Lainer + Partner design world's tallest wooden skyscraper for Vienna
BY Liz Terry
Austrian property entrepreneur Günter Kerbler has announced his intention to build the world’s largest wooden skyscraper in Vienna, with design by Rüdiger Lainer and Partner architects.
The building, expected to cost €60m (US$67m, £43m), is to be called HoHo and will be part of the Aspern Urban Lakeside Project, a 20-year initiative to create a new quarter for Vienna, with 20,000 houses and integrated leisure and hospitality. Aspern is currently the biggest building site in Austria.
Standing at a height of 84m (276ft), HoHo will house a range of leisure facilities, including a hotel, health club, wellness centre and restaurants, as well as apartments and offices.
Caroline Palfy, project developer at Kerbler, said wood had been chosen for its green credentials: it absorbs CO2 from the air while it is growing, while concrete production is responsible for high levels of carbon emissions.
The building will be 76 per cent wood and fire tests are being done to develop a fail-safe sprinkler system.
After a career in residential real estate, including time as chair of the board of Conwert Immobilien Invest SE, Günter Kerbler is making inroads into the hospitality sector. He is one of a group of investors who bought a portfolio of hotels in Vienna, Baden, Prague and Brno, including the Hotel de France at Schottenring and Hotel Kummer at Mariahilferstrasse, as well as the Grand Hotel Bohemia in Prague, in 2013.
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