Kerto® LVL used for a challenging multi-storey structure
The Wälderhaus (“Forest House”) was built in 2013 as part of the International Building Exhibition in Hamburg, Germany. The building is a great example of the many possibilities of using wood in construction. Metsä Wood’s Kerto® LVL (laminated veneer lumber) was used for the challenging load-bearing walls of the house.
The Wälderhaus is owned and operated by the Association for the Protection of German Forest. The first two floors of the five-storey building are occupied by a forest and sustainability education centre. The top three floors work as a hotel. The building also houses an event hall and a restaurant.
The architects Studio Andreas Heller were selected to design the building. For a building constructed to increase awareness of forests and sustainability, the natural choice was to use wood as much as possible and to leave wooden materials visible.
The first two floors are built from reinforced concrete, creating the foundation for three floors of entirely wooden structure. The asymmetrical floorplan and unconventional corners of the exterior give the Wälderhaus its lively appearance. These characteristic details created an interesting challenge for the structural design. The engineering firm Assmann Gruppe took the task of designing the structures.
“Every building project has specific requirements and possibilities,” says Henning Klattenhoff, team leader for structural engineering at Assmann. “The structural design is the most important part in timber construction. It has to take all the conditions into account and the end result is unique for each project.”
Kerto LVL for load-bearing structures
The wall elements were designed using panels made of cross-laminated timber (CLT). However, the irregular shape of the building results in tension on the structures. Therefore, CLT elements were not enough to bear the total load of the building. Making the outer wall elements stronger required Kerto® LVL Q-panels inside the wall elements. The structural design team did careful calculations to define the necessary thickness of the wall elements to carry the load. The Kerto LVL Q-panels were glued together to provide the needed strength.
Kerto LVL products are extremely well suited for structures that have to bear heavy loads. Building with Kerto LVL is fast, light and green.
In our new Talking Wood video, Henning Klattenhoff describes the design process and Kerto LVL.
Images: https://databank.metsagroup.com/l/HWJjTRGmmGpn
For more information, please contact:
Henni Rousu, Communications Manager, Metsä Wood
tel. +358 40 554 8388, henni.rousu@metsagroup.com
Kirk Nichols, VP Sales, Americas, Metsä Wood USA
mobile: (404) 861-1098, kirk.nichols@metsagroup.com
For press information in UK, please contact:
Matt Trace, Director, Defero Communications
tel. 07828663988, matt@deferouk.co.uk
Metsä Wood provides competitive and environmentally friendly wood products for construction, industrial customers and distributor partners. We manufacture products from northern wood, a sustainable raw material of premium quality. Our sales in 2017 were EUR 0.5 billion, and we employ about 1,400 people. Metsä Wood is part of Metsä Group.
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