TU Wien covered the first two floors of its Informatics building at Favoritenstraße 9–11 with a green facade in late 2025 as part of the “Green Facade Digital Twin” research project. Despite a harsh winter, the roughly 7,700 plants — including strawberries and geraniums — survived and grew rapidly in spring, exceeding all expectations. The plants are watered automatically, and researchers are testing different facade designs for insulation and moisture control. A digital twin (a 3D model linked to real-time data and a camera photographing the facade every 10 minutes) lets the team monitor and optimize plant growth. Early results already show cooler temperatures near the plants, and the project is seen as a model for greener, cooler cities in the future.

The research group AUTO (Automation Systems) at the Faculty of Informatics is responsible for the networking and evaluation of the sensors in the project. The group ensures that the sensors installed on the green facade are reliably interconnected and that the collected measurement data is gathered, processed, and analyzed. In doing so, AUTO provides a key foundation for the real-time monitoring of the facade and for linking the measurement data with the digital twin.

Funding: This project is funded by the FFG - Austrian Research Promotion Agency and the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure within the framework of TIKS – Technologies and Innovations for the Climate-Neutral City (3rd Call, 2024).

Contact

More information on the project page.

Markus Bader