MDH Arkitekter, AS

Moholt Timber Towers

Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter

MOHOLT TIMBER TOWERS

MDH Arkitekter

ARCHITECTS
MDH Arkitekter

LOCATION
Trondheim, Norway

CATEGORY
Apartments

PHOTOGRAPHS
Ivan Brodey, Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter , Tomas Bekkavik

AREA
21700.0 m2

MANUFACTURERS
Rothoblaas, Kebony, Mareiner, ROCKWOOL, Stora Enso

PROJECT YEAR
2016

CONSULTANTS
iTre, Høyer Finseth, Rambøll, Vintervoll, K.Lund, Brekke og Strand

CONTRACTOR
Veidekke

CLIENT
Studensamskipnaden I Trondheim (SiT)

ARCHITECTS IN CHARGE
Minna Riska, Dagfinn Sagen, Helge Lunder

TEAM
Minna Riska, Dagfinn Sagen, Helge Lunder, Heleri Nommik, Ida Revfem, Benjamin Sjøberg, Sigbjørn Willemsen, Natasa Zednik, Ingeborg Sommerfeldt

Text description provided by architect.

The student towers are a part of a larger masterplan densifying an existing student village in Trondheim, Norway.

Moholt Timber Towers
© Tomas Bekkavik
Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter

The project uses the site of a former parking lot to create a new heart for the student village with housing units, kindergarten, grocery store and sports activities. All buildings are planned in cross laminated timber (CLT).

CLT- CONSTRUCTION

In the original competition proposal the towers were envisioned built with conventional construction methods; a steel and concrete structure with a brick cladding.

The latter in order to harmonize with the existing low-rise student housing with redbrick facades. To meet the project's ambitious energy and climate goals the project team researched the possibility of turning the structures into cross-laminated timber constructions (CLT).

Moholt Timber Towers
© Ivan Brodey
Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter

The towers, with their relatively short spans and Y-shape volumes, were in many ways statically optimal for CLT-construction.

The five towers are 9-storey high buildings with a height of 28-metres. The basement and ground floor levels are made in reinforced concrete cast in-situ.

Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter
Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter

From the first floor to the 9th floor the entire structure consists of prefabricated CLT-elements. Elevator shafts and stairwells are also constructed in CLT. Both inner and outer walls are structural.

The approach to building with CLT was to take advantage of the finished surface of the CLT elements and expose as much as possible of the CLT element system by developing a robust and honest detailing concept. The joints of the structural elements are revealed as part of the aesthetics of the interior.

Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter
Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter

A full scale fire test was conducted to establish a better information basis for fire sizing, burn rate and sprinkler capacity.

Plasterboard, screed and insulation are used in some of the ceilings and walls to obtain structures in accordance to fire and sound regulations.

Some of the structural walls, for example the insides of the staircases, are painted with a transparent fire protecting wood stain that enables the exposure of the wooden surface.

Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter
Moholt Timber Towers
© Studentsamskipnaden og MDH arkitekter

FACADE

Like regular wood structures, CLT wood structures have the characteristics of shrinkage in tangential and radial direction.

The façade cladding system of the student towers is designed to give it a telescopic characteristic, which can absorb the shrinkage of the floor elements without creating tensions in the cladding.

Moholt Timber Towers
© Ivan Brodey
Moholt Timber Towers
© Ivan Brodey

The façades are clad with Kebony treated pine wood panels, a sustainable softwood product, environmentally processed with a bio-based liquid.

The Kebony cladding on the ground floor is treated with a fireprotecting wood stain, whereas the rest of the Kebony façade is left untreated and will weather naturally.

The project is built with passive house energy standards. The use of CLT has reduced the CO2 production in building materials by 57 % in comparison to traditional construction methods. The structures are heated and cooled with geothermal energy.

The project is nominated to the Mies van der Rohe Award 2017.

Moholt Timber Towers
© Ivan Brodey


Moholt Timber Towers
Section
Moholt Timber Towers
Floor plan
Moholt Timber Towers
Site plan


Moholt Timber Towers
Details
Moholt Timber Towers
Details
Moholt Timber Towers
Details
Moholt Timber Towers
Details


Moholt Timber Towers
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Moholt Timber Towers
Location

MDH Arkitekter, AS
T +47 483 46030
MDH Arkitekter, AS
Hausmanns gate 6, 0186 Oslo, Norway