The Sun Houses of Konrad Frey: Environmental Research and Solar Design Knowledge

Since the mid-1960s, the Austrian architect Konrad Frey (*1934) has conducted research studies of solar utilisation, applied his design knowledge in a series of sun house prototypes, and designed the first Austrian Solar House in 1972. The unifying theme is to rethink modern premises, like functionality and flexibility, environmental control versus responsive, well-tempered environments, in terms of regional contingencies and sustainable resource use. His pioneering work comprises of sundomes, suit-able service modules, greenhouses, infrastructural systems, sun houses (Fischer House at Grundlsee/Styria, Zankel House in Prévessin/Geneva), and the Solar Houses IIII, among others. Freys theoretical investigations at the Graz Institute of Environmental Research and international alliances with theorists (CERN, Arup, TU Vienna) are widely published (1989 manual Handbuch für Energieberater) and initiated the Austrian Energy Advise Service. Yet, until now Freys work has been identified with fundamentally different assessments, mainly focusing on the avant-garde of the Graz School, post-modern vocabulary, or critical regionalism. However, highly relevant contributions to the global discourse on solar architecture and environmental research have not been operationalised in previous examinations. The planned project will fill this gap, by scientifically processing and evaluating unpublished sources and new data, measuring and re-conceptualising the energy performance of Freys prototypical solar houses, in order to issue the catalogue raisonné with critical commentaries and a digital database (Part 1). Second, the research will identify key narratives and analyse Freys design knowledge in order to create an intellectual biography of Frey, focusing on his scientific approach towards architecture, his connection to modern narratives, the history of solar ideas, and the instrumentalism of the environmental discourse (Part 2). The research project will be grounded on an interdisciplinary approach using research methods of both the humanities and technical sciences, such as the theory and history of architecture, cultural studies, the sociology of technology, and building physics. The planned research project will expand the body of knowledge of the disciplines mentioned above in order to provide highly relevant insights into Freys significance within the architectural discourse. The prime focus will be based on Freys exploring the viability of using solar energy, developing solar prototypes, and promoting a new resource policy. The broader impacts of the expected results will apply to the sphere of human ecology, global resource control, and environmental policy strategies.

The objectives of the three-year research project on the Austrian architect Konrad Frey, a pioneer of energy-efficient architecture, consisted of the creation of a catalog raisonné of Freys buildings, projects and writings with critical comments in the form of an online database (www.konradfrey.tugraz.at) and the compilation of an intellectual biography of the architect. The digital catalog is the result of the evaluation of unpublished sources and the interdisciplinary redesign of the energy efficiency of prototype solar houses. The guiding principle of Freys work is to apply the ideas of modernity in terms of regional conditions and sustainable use of resources. His focus was always on functionality and flexibility, but also on the atmospheric effect of space. The digital catalog of his works, competition entries and publications is structured according to date, place, category and project number. Following these parameters, the catalog can be sorted by arranging the projects chronologically (ascending and descending), by location, by category of the design, and by numbers of the contributions. Each catalog number is accompanied by a short critical essay, technical data and a complete bibliography. All pictures can be enlarged; they contain historical and current photos of the realized buildings as well as plans, model photos and other documentation material for all projects. The entire picture and plan material comes from the Vorlass of Frey in the Archive of the TU Graz. To analyze the thermal comfort, the indoor air quality and the adaptive behavior of the occupants, a long-term monitoring under summer and winter conditions was carried out in a case study building. The study of the monitored dataset provided a better understanding of the building`s performance. In addition, it was possible to check whether the expectations of the architect regarding thermal comfort and indoor air quality are fulfilled or not. In addition, numerical building simulations were used to evaluate the energy efficiency of the selected case study buildings. The dynamic simulation of the buildings allowed the assessment of the correspondence between the actual performance of the building and the original planning intentions. It also provided a platform to evaluate possible operational adjustments to optimize and improve building performance. The interdisciplinary part of the project consisted of a collaboration between the Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History and Cultural Studies of the Graz University of Technology and the Institute of Building Physics and Construction Ecology of the Vienna University of Technology.