Palais Ferstel
Fire protection for a landmark
Usage | Office & Residential |
Solution | Natural Smoke Ventilation |
Construction year | 2017 |
Location | Austria |
Architect | ÖFM – österreichisches Facility Management |
Special SHEV requirements: Palais Ferstel in the heart of Vienna is a listed building.
It cost 1,897,000 gulden to build, which is about 25 million euros. Palais Ferstel, featuring the Venetian-Florentine Trecento style, has been located in Vienna's first district since 1859. But this historic building did not make it through World War II entirely unscathed—the air strikes on Vienna severely damaged the building's main façade. Costly renovation work was required. Between 1975 and 1982 it was completely restored.
But what was missing from this restoration? A fire protection concept! D+H in Vienna considered the special requirements for protecting historic buildings when equipping Palais Ferstel with the latest smoke extraction technologies in 2017. Chain drives were integrated into the large halls and state rooms from the inside, but are nearly invisible so as not to detract from the aesthetics of the building. In order to protect not just the building but, most importantly, the people within it, optical and linear smoke detectors were also installed to detect smoke from fire. The entire system is controlled by several SHEV control panels.