Unique challenge

Hans-Ludwig Stell was given the task of constructing a type of house within the framework of development aid that could be assembled as simple as possible, and almost self-explanatory in various regions of the world. “I was architecturally inspired by steel construction”, remembers Hans-Ludwig Stell, managing partner of the Stellinnovation GmbH, “nevertheless, our company, the architect team, excluded steel construction specifically for this application. While searching for a suitable solution, we encountered the timber I-beams by Metsä Wood.”

Originally used in development aid, Hans-Ludwig Stell further extended the type of house so that it complies with the European standards of today, for example regarding the EnEV. What remained was the simple construction which can be assembled easily and quickly by a few people. A good example is the one and a half storey home with duo pitched roof as a free-standing extension to an existing structure.

The key feature is that the construction of the entire house is created for the modular system with only one construction material, the I-beam Finnjoist®. Due to the high load capacity, the Metsä Wood I-beams are used for the walls, for the floors and for the roof. Because these are constructed analogous to the principle of a double-T steel profile: The OSB web in the middle separates the top and bottom flange that run parallel. The latter are made of high-strength Kerto LVL S-beams, in a single piece and can permanently carry enormous pressure and tensile loads. In short: The perfectly matched materials and the geometric optimization to the cross section make the timber I-beam Finnjoist® versatile and ideally fulfilled all required characteristics for the planned type of house.

The individual timber components are connected using exact interlocking connections, that join into each other by themselves. Due to the dimensional stability of the I-beams and the precise milling, no assembly errors arise and, in addition, the construction is very stable. Only a hammer is necessary for the assembly. Steel bolts are hammered in selected places. “If you can generally say timber moves - this is not the case here!”, explains Hans-Ludwig Stell to sum it up.

Thus: Once the stable support structure made of Finnjoist® I-beams stands, façade elements such as windows and doors can in turn simply be mounted. All of this on the basis of connections joining into each other and of course in the grid of one by one meter. Further development can then be realized freely.