Dukta Matte

On May 26th, the Swiss wood awards were given out. After the German awards a few weeks ago, these awards highlight more reasons for building with wood such as the custom cut wood slab that transforms into undulating plates (shown above).

More on holzpreis-schweiz.ch.

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e3 Building in Berlin, Germany. Seven stories in wood.

The German wood awards have just been given to a variety of projects that include built objects – anything from highrises to garden sheds – and new products for wood construction.

The first prize went to an amazing object: A seven story apartment building in Berlin whose structure consists of glulam columns and beams as well as solid wood walls. It is the e3 and more info is available on e3berlin.de. See also the image on the right.

It is also great news to note that one of the honorable mentions went to a colleague of ours and one of his projects. Prof. Leander Bathon and the Wood Technology Lab of the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden received this prize for a bridge in Austria that uses a novel glued-in wood-concrete composite system. Some information on our own work on this system can be found here.

Wood-concrete composite bridge in Austria

Finally, if you know German then you can download the official publication.

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Koch Center, Deerfield Academy

Coming from a wood background, it is a bit disappointing that most (low- to mid-rise) curtain-walls or storefront glazed walls contain only aluminum mullions as their support around here (US). It appears that many architects simply don’t specify these in wood. This fact came to my attention again last weekend when I visited the recently completed Koch Center at the Deerfield Academy in Deerfiled, MA (by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill). Contrary to common building practice, this building actually uses wood for the mullions of its glazed facade.

Overall, this building has many nice features. For example, there is a beautiful solid masonry wall theme and curved light bands throughout all floors. In addition, it proudly sports a (slightly oversized) “LEED Gold” plaque close to the central atrium. In the context of its materiality and claim to resource efficiency, it is perfectly justified to find the mullions for all glazed walls made of glulam.

Glulam curtain wall mullion with thin aluminum section

These vertical mullions span only from floor to floor, so wind loads shouldn’t be too high. What surprised me was that the glazing is actually supported by aluminum “mini-mullion” profiles, which in turn are attached to the glulams (see images left and below for detail). While I am sure there was a reason for doing it this way, I believe this is not necessary. As shown in one of the images below, curtain wall manufacturers (Kawneer in this example) make profiles that can directly be screwed into a supporting mullion. In that case, the entire structural support would be provided by the glulam and the aesthetics (and manufacturing) would be simplified.

Aluminum-wood connections

Since these wood-glass facade systems are a bit more common in Europe, manufacturers over there have solved some of the tricky details already. For example, the connection between horizontal and vertical mullions can be done very elegantly using Knapp’s hidden Ricon connector (see image below).

In case you are in need of arguments for using wood for curtain walls or glazed facades, consider these:

• Aluminum has far higher embodied energy than wood. Also, wood can be harvested from sustainable sources.
• Wood mullions can reduce problems with thermal bridging and condensation.
• Wood mullions look good and give a warmer appearance than aluminum.

Kawneer screw-on veneer system (Image: Kawneer)

Knapp's Ricon facade connector (Image: Knapp)

Links:

• Kawneer 1600 System – Going by the drawing above, their screw-on option is not marketed for use with wood. But there shouldn’t be a reason why it wouldn’t work.
• Alcoa AA 100 – A similar system by Alcoa.
• Knapp connections – Their Ricon connector is perfectly suited for connecting wooden horizontal and vertical mullions in a hidden “snap-in” application.
• Fassaden window systems – This company looks like a European import (located in PA) and offers complete wood-glass facade systems of many sizes. Look for technical details on their website. They also offer a wood clip-on cover as an option.
• Deerfield Academy Natatorium – Another wooden structure by SOM in the same location.

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Fire Protection I: Allowable Heights and Areas
Friday, January 30, 10 am PST

Designing the World’s Tallest Modern Mixed-use Wood Building
Monday, February 23, 2009, 1 pm PST

Fire Protection II: Basic Principles for Wood Frame Structures
Monday, March 23, 10 am PST

I am particularly looking forward to the second one. Apparently building tall in wood is the latest thing. Forget about 3-5 story limitations, higher is technically possible and is being realized in several projects. One of those is the e3 building in Berlin and architects in Vienna, Austria are apparently dreaming of 20 stories. Below is an image of the e3 building:

e3 Building in Berlin, Germany. Seven stories in wood.

FYI: WoodWorks is an initiative of the Wood Products Council, which is a cooperative venture of all the major wood associations in North America, as well as research organizations and government agencies.

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Seated bearing in Chamshan temple (image by - other - Alex)

Just came across these amazing images of a Chinese temple under construction (thanks to Alex from China for sending me the link).

Below is the entire slideshow. You can find it also on the temple website.

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At this point you can find there English and German news gathered through Google’s news service.

Link:

http://www.alexschreyer.net/timber-engineering/news/

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• Non-residential, Institutional, Architectural Interiors
• Commercial – Small, Large
• Residential – Single Family, Multi-family
• Remodeled – Non-residential, Residential
• International Building

Deadline for submissions is Monday, November 10, 2008 and more information as well as the registration form can be found on the CWC wesite. You can also browse previous winners here.

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Monte Rosa Hut (Image: ETHZ)

If your mental image of a Swiss mountain hut consists of a small, weathered log hut with gable roof encircled by flowing meadows and grazing cows, think again. Or rather look up! All the way to an altitude of 2883 meters (9,500 ft) near Zermatt in Switzerland. That’s where in September 2009 you’ll find the energetically self-sustaining Monte Rosa hut.

A team of students from the ETH Zürich has just completed planning this aluminum-clad gem situated in full view of the Matterhorn mountain. Construction has started and is supposed to wrap up in September 2009. Upon completion of this wooden structure it will house a hotel and restaurant in six stories. For some interior visualizations and floor plans, visit this site.

Links:

• Neue Monte-Rosa Huette
• ETH Zuerich Energy Science Center
• Article in “Die Alpen”

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Pallet house idea

A team from the TU Vienna in Austria was one of the three winners of a European architectural design competition under the title “A Minimum House for Leisure in the XXI century.” Their winning entry was a house made entirely of shipping pallets. Similar to the recycling of metal shipping containers, this is a great idea for reusing standardized industrial components – made of wood in this case.

Interesting technical details of this system are the integrated “slide in” beams and the installation plane in both ceilings and walls. The image below illustrates these:

Pallet house details

Links:

• Poster presentation of pallet house (PDF)
  
• GAU:DI winners

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