Opening Celebration for the WOODCUBE

Today saw the ceremony to mark the opening of the “WOODCUBE”, a five-storey urban apartment building. To begin with, investor Matthias Korff led all the stakeholders present and the future residents through a show apartment to introduce the building. IBA Director Uli Hellweg and the developer then unveiled the IBA plaque. The event culminated in a hog roast feast to which all of the residents, guests, construction workers, and project stakeholders were invited.

Covering 900 square metres, the “WOODCUBE” offers its residents homes with a novel feel. Made of untreated, healthy wood, the building is carbon-neutral and free of harmful substances, as it does not contain insulation made from foreign matter, polythene sheeting, or the fire protection materials that are commonly used for wood buildings. This has allowed the modern wood apartment building to be constructed within five weeks, avoiding construction chemicals and wood preservatives in order to conserve the natural and health-enhancing character of wood as a building material. The block, a prototype for sustainable apartment buildings, has outer walls 34 centimetres thick. All of the floors are made of uncontaminated, solid wood, without the addition of solvents.

The “WOODCUBE” is designed as an innovative and sustainable building, one of the series of “Smart Material Houses” constructed as part of the International Building Exhibition IBA Hamburg.

Hamburg, 30 May 2013 – “By officially unveiling the IBA plaque for this building today we are bringing its special features and fantastic versatility to the attention of the public. As an Efficiency House 40, the “WOODCUBE” largely avoids non-sustainable raw materials. It is therefore an excellent example of the innovative nature of the IBA. This block marks a new chapter in timber construction,” said IBA Director Uli Hellweg.

Neither pollutants such as oils nor chemical waste were produced during the construction of the “WOODCUBE”, meaning that the building will be able to undergo thermal recycling at some point in the future, and be used for energy. In order to achieve this, all of the construction materials were checked for their biocompatibility and carbon potential prior to being employed. This allowed approximately 8500 tonnes of carbon to be saved during the construction phase alone. The “WOODCUBE” can be described as a zero-carbon building both in terms of its structure and the way in which it is used. The building generates electricity and heat energy from renewable sources, resulting in a carbon balance that makes it a model of climate-neutral construction using renewable forms of energy.

The “WOODCUBE” places one of the oldest and most traditional construction materials – untreated wood – at centre stage, but interprets it in a completely new way. The block is made of solid wood, and the structure leaves the ceilings, outer walls, and floors largely bare. The façade is ageing naturally as it has been left untreated, thus emphasising the beauty of wood as a building material.

Healthy living plays a key role in the building, as the developer has used only toxin-free construction materials, thus maximising the bio-recycling potential. The fact that the “WOODCUBE” consists of only one material, namely solid wood, without construction chemicals or wood preservatives, means that the future residents will also benefit from its health-enhancing effects.

Investor Matthias Korff emphasised, “We have created a building that can act as a model for structures built to meet the increasing demand for sustainable construction. The “WOODCUBE” is made of pure, untreated raw materials, and is free of harmful substances. It offers maximum comfort for its residents, and is an ideal example of energy efficiency. Both the construction and operation of the apartment building are carbon-neutral.”

The floor plan allows the residents to configure their apartment for different types of residential use, tailored to urban lifestyles. A variety of layout schemes is possible on each floor, as the versatile interior wood dividing walls do not bear weight and can thus be moved to meet the needs of the inhabitants. This type of layout allows each apartment to face in three directions.

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