WOODCUBE: the World’s Most Advanced Wooden High-Rise Residential Building

Innovative, sustainable, and urban: guests at the project presentation were able to gain a detailed picture of the five-storey “WOODCUBE” apartment building, which is one of the set of “Smart Material Houses” featured as part of the International Building Exhibition IBA Hamburg. The investor WOODCUBE Hamburg and the IBA Hamburg held a press conference today, attended by the Minister for Urban Development and Environment, Jutta Blankau, to present the project and its special features for the first time.
Also present was Dr Erwin Thoma, wood producer and author.

Future residents will be able to enjoy 900 square metres of living space that offers a remarkable feel in a number of different ways. The building is made of untreated, healthy wood, is pollution-free and carbon-neutral, and manages without insulation involving foreign matter, plastic sheeting, or the fire safety casing that has previously been used for wooden constructions. This means that the most advanced wooden high-rise building seen in recent times can be constructed in only five weeks. The building also excludes construction chemicals or wood protection agents in order to preserve the natural and health-enhancing aspects of wood as a building material. Work on this structure, which will act as a reference for other projects, has now begun. It will be a sustainably built apartment complex with ceilings made out of glue-free, untreated solid wood.

Hamburg, 12 December 2012 - “The ‘WOODCUBE’ brings together climate protection, healthy living, and sustainability in an innovative way. It is one of twelve IBA projects that present model responses to the challenges of our time in relation to sustainable construction and community living. ‘WOODCUBE’ is truly groundbreaking, and is in keeping with the nature of the IBA. It deserves to be imitated,” said Jutta Blankau, Minister for Urban Development and Environment.

The five-storey building has a flexible number of apartments. It is being built in Wilhelmsburg Central, on the site of the “Building Exhibition within the Building Exhibition”, as part of the set of “Smart Material Houses”. Uli Hellweg, Director of the IBA, says, “’WOODCUBE’ revives traditional methods of wood construction and combines them with high-tech, intelligent concepts for sustainable building. I am pleased that we have succeeded in constructing a building here that is healthy for both people and the environment, and that it meets the latest living standards. By locating this innovative model house in Wilhelmsburg Central we are also bringing life back to what was previously an abandoned inner city area.” The forward-looking solid wood construction was originally designed by architekturagentur,
a Stuttgart-based firm of architects.

According to Matthias Korff, instigator and investor in the “WOODCUBE” project, “We are proud to be able to construct a block that can respond to the ever-increasing demand for sustainable building methods. The ‘WOODCUBE’ is made of untreated, natural raw materials and does not contain any harmful substances. Instead, it offers maximum comfort for all residents – not only those who are health-conscious. It also sets an example in terms of its energy efficiency, as it is carbon-neutral both to run and to build. According to calculations, the carbon emissions from the construction and running of a conventional building over fifty years would equate to the construction and running of around seventy ‘WOODCUBES’.”
As a building constructed to energy Efficiency House 40 standard, the ‘WOODCUBE’ rejects the use of non-renewable raw materials. This marks the first time that an apartment complex will not emit any greenhouse gases over its life cycle and is completely organically recyclable. It does not produce toxic substances like oil or chemical waste, meaning that it can ultimately be reused for thermal energy and power generation. To ensure this aim is met, all of the construction materials were tested for bio-compatibility and carbon potential prior to building. Around 8500 tonnes of carbon were saved in the construction phase alone. The “WOODCUBE” is deemed a zero-carbon building in both its construction and running, as it generates carbon-neutral electricity and heat energy from renewable sources. This carbon balance makes the structure an example of climate-neutral building using renewable forms of energy.

The “WOODCUBE” puts untreated wood, as one of the oldest and most traditional construction materials, at centre stage, but gives it a completely novel spin. Solid wood is an integral part of the whole building, and is made as visible as possible in the ceilings, outer walls, and floors. As the façade has been left untreated, it is ageing naturally, emphasising the aesthetic of wood as a building material.

Healthy living plays a key role within the building, as the contractor has used exclusively non-toxic construction materials, thus ensuring that it has maximum potential for organic recycling. The fact that this solid wood structure is built of a single material, without  chemicals or wood preservatives, also has a health-enhancing effect on its future residents.

Dr. Erwin Thoma, wood producer and author, said, “Trees are becoming part of the metropolis. Wood has recently been rediscovered as a building material, allowing us to create residential buildings in urban areas that are self-sufficient in terms of energy and do not introduce waste into the natural cycle of materials. Moreover, these unencumbered, solid wood spaces are considered by medical experts to be beneficial to our health. We are finally seeing the wisdom of science and nature come together.”

The ground plan of the ”WOODCUBE” allows the residents to configure their living space in a number of different ways, adapting it to the needs of urban life. There are a variety of layouts within each floor, as the inner wooden dividing walls are versatile and non-load-bearing, so that they can be customised to fit the needs of the residents. In addition, this type of floor plan concept allows each apartment to face in three directions.

The latest images of the WOODCUBE project can be found via the following link:
http://iba-hamburg.eyebase.com
Pin-code: rCu3JQ8E

For queries please contact:

IBA Hamburg GmbH, Kristina Hödl, Head of Press Department, kristina.hoedl@iba-hamburg.de, Tel.: 040 / 226 227 335, or Anna Vietinghoff, Press Department, anna.vietinghoff@iba-hamburg.de, Tel: 040 / 226 227 – 331, or email presse@iba-hamburg.de

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