Chicken coop to the new social project of the association Vinzenzgemeinschaft St. Stephan for homeless people -> VinziRast am Land / ground under the feet.
The chicken coop is part of the agricultural facility of VinziRast am Land - a new project of the Vinzenzgemeinschaft St. Stephan to open future perspectives for homeless people in the former Hotel Hanner and the attached property.
The farm has been developed as permaculture agriculture for fruit & vegetable cultivation with small animal husbandry; the CHICKEN COOP thereby enables the self-sufficiency of the plants with organic fertilizer from the manure of about 200 chickens. In addition, the photovoltaic system on the southern surface of the pitched roof supplies the connected main building with solar power. However, the fact that everything could be implemented in this way within a social project financed exclusively by donations is only due to the cooperation and support of many:
The prerequisite for this was an expanded view of the possibilities of architects, namely to understand the creation of architecture not only as a form-shaping planning work but also as a society-shaping participation process.
Thus, with wood technology students of the HTL-Mödling as well as helpers from the VinziRast facilities, we dismantled a donated vacant field barn in the Kamptal, brought it with a sponsored transport of a Lower Austrian master builder to Mayerling, 80 km away, and rebuilt it there with the aforementioned and much more support at the former hotel tennis court. This story in turn prompted the Carinthian solar panel manufacturer KIOTO-SOLAR to donate the photovoltaic modules for the south roof of the new chicken coop - to highlight just two of the many special collaborations from the entire "coop genesis".
We are particularly proud not only of the result as it stands today and all that it is capable of achieving, but also and above all of the process that produced this special building in the form it took in the first place. Although much of this project revolves around scarcity, the result nevertheless does not present itself as architecture that perpetuates the scarcity of resources as a qualitative obstacle - quite the contrary.
Today, more than ever, we are convinced that exemplary building is not possible without aspects of circular building -> our credo thus gained: Form Follows Resource.
