Wood in Architecture and Construction - Assignment 4 - Material -Yaqi Liao (1/2)

Materials used in

Community centre St. Gerold, AT 2009

Introduction to material and energy saving strategies:

Except for the lift shaft, solid wood was the only building material used. In order

to achieve sustainability, the support structure, outer cladding, ﬁ ttings and

furnishings made of ﬁ r form a homogeneous unit. These all contributed to the

energy saving on both material transportation and renewable materials.

Wood ﬁ bre insulation and sheep’s wool were used as insulating materials. We

could see an unignorable percentage of insulation materials. Residual heat is

provided by a geothermal heat pump. These passive designs helped to reduce

the energy operation.

The construction process is really quick for its prefabrication. The exterior

walls and the lift core were built ﬁ rst. The slabs were slit into the wall. Once the

supporting structure was ﬁ nished, the facade elements were consequently

installed on the site.

Flat roof

Bitumen membrane, two-layer,

granular slate surface 5 mm

Cladding, spruce, tongue-and-groove 27/100

mm;butt joint 27/100 mm

Square timber, spruce 180/100 mm

Timber beam 220/100 mm

Vapour barrier, PE ﬁ lm, installation level 110 mm

Acoustic insulation, sheep’s wool 30 mm

Battens, silver ﬁ r, untreated 40/36 mm

Facade and exterior walls

Cladding:

Battens, silver ﬁ r, rough-sawn 30/50 –120 mm

Substructure, battens, spruce, painted black 30/50

Prefabricated element:

Cladding, spruce, tongue-andgroove,

diagonal 25/80 –150 mm

Battens, spruce, between them: installation level

40/50 mm, thermal insulation, sheep’s wool

Interior cladding, silver ﬁ r,tongue-and-groove 20/50

–120 mm

Timber window

Silver ﬁ r, sanded smooth with insulated triple glazing

Structure

Post, spruce 125/60 mm

Beam, spruce 40/50 mm

Foundation

Concrete

Substructure, stainless steel tube | 25/25 mm

Gradient compensation, plastic pad, black 5 – 25

Bitumen membrane, two-layer, torched 10 mm

Insulation, foam glass 120 mm

Vapour barrier, dowel laminated timber,

doweled 100 mm

Interior walls

Dowel laminated timber

Stairs

Spruce 1200/30 mm

Floor Slab (4 ﬂ oors)

Strap ﬂ oor, silver ﬁ r, rough-sawn,

nailed, tongue-and-groove 27/80 –100 mm timbers

62 mm, between them loam building slabs

Impact sound insulation, wood ﬁ bre 30 mm

Dowel laminated timber timber, doweled 180 mm

Soundprooﬁ ng, sheep’s wool 40 mm

Gypsum ﬁ breboard 15 mm

Ceiling, silver ﬁ r, untreated 40/35 mm laid at

distance

Acoustic insulation, sheep’s wool 30 mm

ource: Hermann Kau

mann, Krö tsch Ste

an, and Ste

an Winter, Manual o

Multi-Store

Timber

Construction (Munich: Detail Business Information, 2018), 23

Wood in Architecture and Construction - Assignment 4 - Material -Yaqi Liao (2/2)

3. How might the building be disassembled? What components of the building might be re-used?

In terms of re-usability, the whole construction process used lots of prefabricated elements to shorten the total

construction time to 10 months. Slits in the wall elements were used to mount the dowel laminated timber elements of

the storey slabs. In this case, most timber elements are reassembled to a theoretical extent. We could disconnect the

batten and reuse the cladding, frame, facade and so on. However, some of them are hard to re-use such as the spruce

cladding. I noticed some damage on the facade in regard to weathering, which needs to ﬁ x over time. Technically, the

triple-glazing window could be reused as well, but it depended on the condition of the timber window,

5. What joints or systems will cause diﬃ culty in disassembly?

The system design is easy to assemble and disassemble. The only thing I am worried about is the damage to the spruce

cladding. We could see the change of colour and some damage on the cladding at the moment. All the pre fabric

elements would make the process easier, but the joints between slits in the wall and the slabs should be considered

better during the disassembly process.

1. What percentage of material comes from renewable sources?

Total weight of building: 332721.7521 kg

Percentage of renewable sources in weight:76%(including Spruce Wood, Silver ﬁ r, Dowel laminated timber, Sheep’s wool

and Wood ﬁ bre) Not sure if glass is renewable, if so, it will be 79%.

Density value Area(m2)/

Volume(m3) Weight/ kilograms Percentage

1Flat roof

"Bitumen membrane, two-layer,

granular slate surface 5 mm" 3.0 kg/m² 125.85m² 377.55 4%

Cladding, spruce, tongue-and-groove 27/100

mm 370 kg/m³ 14.4m³ 5328 63%

Square timber, spruce,180/100 mm 370 kg/m³ 0.35m³ 129.5 2%

Timber beam, 220/100 mm, 370 kg/m³ 0.43m³ 159.1 2%

Vapour barrier 1100kg/m³ 0.12585m³ 138.435 2%

Acoustic insulation, sheep’s wool 30 mm 31 kg/m³ 3.78m³ 117.18 1%

Battens, silver ﬁ r, untreated 40/36 mm 430 kg/m³ 5.034m³ 2164.62 26%

2Facade and exterior walls

Cladding

Battens, silver ﬁ r, rough-sawn 30/50 –120 mm 430 kg/m³ 46.44m³ 19969.2 19%

Substructure, battens, spruce, painted black

30/50 mm 370 kg/m³ 1.03608m³ 383.3496 0%

Prefabricated element

"Cladding, spruce, tongue-andgroove,

diagonal 25/80 –150 mm" 370 kg/m³ 116.1m³ 42957 41%

Battens, spruce 430 kg/m³ 1.92m³ 825.6 1%

Thermal insulation, sheep’s wool 31 kg/m³ 135.45m³ 4198.95 4%

Interior cladding, silver ﬁ r 430 kg/m³ 30.96m³ 13312.8 13%

Timber window

silver ﬁ r, sanded smooth 430 kg/m³ 33m³ 14190 14%

insulated triple glazing 45 kg/m² 203.1m² 9139.5 9%

3Interior walls

Dowel laminated timber 100mm 400 kg/m³ 44.8m³ 17920 100%

4Stairs

Spruce 1200/30 mm 370 kg/m³ 2.052m³ 759.24 100%

5Structure

Post, spruce 125/60 mm 370 kg/m³ 11.045m³ 4086.65 59%

Beam, spruce 40/50 mm 370 kg/m³ 7.56m³ 2797.2 41%

6Floor Slab (4 ﬂ oors)

Strap ﬂ oor, silver ﬁ r, rough-sawn,nailed,

tongue-and-groove 27/80 –100 mm timbers

62 mm, between them loam building slabs

430 kg/m³ 77.3m³ 33239 26%

Impact sound insulation, wood ﬁ bre 30 mm " 23.19m³ 5797.5 4%

Dowel laminated timber timber, doweled 180

mm 400 kg/m³ 139.14m³ 55656 43%

Soundprooﬁ ng, sheep’s wool 40 mm 31 kg/m³ 30.92m³ 958.52 1%

Gypsum ﬁ breboard 15 mm 1000 kg/m³ 11.595m³ 11595 9%

Ceiling, silver ﬁ r, untreated 40/35 mm laid at

distance 430 kg/m³ 51.53m³ 22157.9 17%

Acoustic insulation, sheep’s wool 30 mm 31 kg/m³ 23.19m³ 718.89 1%

7Foundation

Concrete 2300 kg/m³ 17.85m³ 41055 65%

Substructure, stainless steel tube | 25/25 mm 7500 kg/m³ 1.98m³ 14875 23%

Gradient compensation, plastic pad, black 5 –

25 mm 0.1 kg/m³ 2.975m³ 0.2975 8%

Bitumen membrane, two-layer, torched 10 mm 3.0 kg/m² 1.19m³ 3.57 0%

Insulation, foam glass 120 mm 115 kg/m² 14.28m³ 1642.2 3%

Vapour barrier 1100kg/m³ 1.19m³ 1309 2%

Dowel laminated timber,doweled 100 mm 400 kg/m³ 11.9m³ 4760 7%

Materials List

Community centre St. Gerold, AT 2009

2. How could this ratio be improved?

From the analysis, it is clear a timber building. It has been

described as 'solid wood was the only building material

used'. Although 75% of the building was made of timber, the

largest amount of concrete (13%) is still unignorable.

The building was located in the mountains, so the

concrete foundation is better for the building's usage. It

might be better to think about green concrete to increase

sustainability. However, generally, I think the material usage

is really good in this example.