Simple and stylish, the modular buildings of this student property are prompting many designers to rethink how they use timber for offsite manufacturing.
By using cross-laminated timber (CLT) for load-bearing structures in the towers, we halved embodied carbon in the building materials, and reduced CO2 emissions associated with energy use by approximately 70% compared with non-timber framed buildings of a similar size. Winter weather can be very cold in the city of Trondheim, Norway, where these modular buildings are located, so the energy savings are significant.
Moholt 50/50, Trondheim, Norway
The student village, which will house up to 632 students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, is the result of rethinking a design: in the original competition proposal it was envisaged that the towers would be built conventionally from steel, concrete and brick.
The architect, MDH Arkitekter chose Kebony wood for the façade of the property – sustainable softwood treated via a patented process to improve its durability and dimensional stability.
