Due to their diverse user groups, complex technical infrastructures, and high security requirements, high-rise buildings place particular demands on building management. The internationally active PropTech company Pocket House specialises in developing digital solutions that transform office and mixed-use towers into networked, efficiently operated, and service-oriented properties. The company interprets high-rise buildings not exclusively as physical structures, but as digital platforms and thus as vertical neighbourhoods.
A core challenge in modern high-rise buildings is the integration of different technical systems and providers. Components such as access controls, lift systems, parcel solutions, mobility services, space and area management, and communication systems often operate in isolation from one another. Pocket House remedies this by connecting these individual elements via intelligent interfaces and establishing a coherent digital infrastructure. This enables various hardware and system components to communicate with each other and be centrally controlled.
Intelligent Networking of Existing Structures
Esther Schwedler, Head of Germany Operations & Strategy at Pocket House Deutschland, emphasises that a high-rise building only functions as truly intelligent if its various systems are interoperable. Pocket House connects existing technical structures to form a digital infrastructure that optimises both the operation and the use of the building. Digital access and visitor management plays a significant role in this. In complex high-rise environments with a multitude of companies, employees, residents, guests, and service providers, the efficient control of access authorisations is essential. Pocket House bundles these processes digitally and enables central management of access rights, rooms, and visitors. Systems from various established providers such as Schindler, dormakaba, SALTO, 2N, KONE, or Glutz can be integrated, thereby intelligently combining security requirements with high user comfort.
Digitisation in Existing Building Stock through Retrofit Approach
Digitisation by Pocket House is also designed for existing high-rise buildings. The company pursues a technical retrofit approach, where not the entire existing infrastructure is replaced. Instead, individual hardware components are specifically added or exchanged and integrated into a common digital structure via interfaces. This enables the realisation of automated processes in existing buildings while minimising the effort and costs of a complete conversion. A concrete application example for this is the DC2 Tower in Vienna. In this 175-metre-high building, which comprises 53 floors and, in addition to apartments on 30 floors, provides office space of around 980 square metres each, Pocket House digitises central processes and services for the different user groups. Office and residential users receive tailor-made areas, including for the management and booking of shared spaces.
- —Danube Flats (Austria's tallest residential high-rise)
- —DC Tower 1
- —TwentyTwo Towers
- —Kibb Leywand
The DC2 Tower thus complements Pocket House's existing expertise in Vienna, which includes the realisation of solutions in the Danube Flats, DC Tower 1, and the TwentyTwo Towers. Through interfaces to partners such as myRenzBox, MO.Point, and Tableconnect, further building services, parcel solutions, and mobility services can be seamlessly integrated. In this way, a central digital layer is created that connects technical systems, services, and different user groups. Pocket House is currently implemented in a total of seven towers, in both the residential and office segments, including Kibb Leywand, High Five Tower, and the Porr Zentrale Tower. The portfolio thus encompasses classic office properties, large mixed-use buildings, and extensive urban quarter developments.
