Vienna projects turn train panels into balcony railings

Construction projects in Vienna are increasingly reusing building materials, with discarded train ceiling panels being turned into balcony railings, ORF reports.

The materialnomaden initiative is demonstrating how old materials can be incorporated into new buildings. At Kurbadstraße in the Favoriten district, ceiling panels from retired Class 4020 trains are being used in facade systems. They are planned as balcony railings, partitions for covered walkways and planters, as well as in the base sections of other developers’ projects, said Peter Kneidinger of materialnomaden.

Reusing building materials can save time and resources because the materials have already been certified. It also reduces the use of embodied energy, since the materials do not have to be newly produced.

At the Hotel Bristol, materialnomaden identified parquet flooring that had been hidden beneath a carpet and used only as an unsanded subfloor. The group organised its removal, after which the individual strips were sorted in a hall. The work is carried out in close cooperation with social enterprises. The old flooring will eventually be visible again in the hotel.

At the magdas Hotel by the Prater, old bed frames are also being reused instead of discarded. Austria produces around one million cubic metres of wood from construction waste every year. The material could be used for new structures such as roof frames or for furniture rather than being burned.