Viennese student dorms may Passively House refugees

Julia Ingalls

Each year, Passive Houses such as this one in Roitham, Austria open for public tours (photo by Günter Lang)

Sustainable, fast, and cheap housing: just what you need when you're escaping

oppressive regimes

,

natural disasters

, and other refugee-creating events. Christoph Chorherr, Vienna's Green Party planning spokesperson, has blogged that the mobile

Passive House

dormitories designed by Günter Lang for students in Vienna's Seestadt Aspern district could easily be adapted to comfortably house refugees.

With a construction cost of 1.140 Euro per square meter, the dorms not only can be erected in a few days, but also meet the "Passive House Standard," meaning that they reduce traditional building energy consumption by up to 90%. Passive House Standard dwellings aren't limited to Vienna: from Canada to Germany to South Korea, the form is proving popular with energy-conscious designers.