Building concepts based on CLT and LVL are a new way of building with wood, balancing today's needs with the needs of future generations. We offer a structured approach to your dreams and ambitions.
Find out more:
Imagine what
a tree can do
Building concepts based on CLT and LVL are a new way of building with wood, balancing today's needs with the needs of future generations. We offer a structured approach to your dreams and ambitions.
Find out more:
Imagine what
a tree can do
Part of the bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wooden constructions, and paper globally. Our materials are renewable, reusable, and recyclable, and form the building blocks for a range of innovative solutions that can help replace products based on fossil fuels and other non-renewable materials.
Stora Enso’s Wood Products division provides versatile wood-based solutions for building and housing. Our product range covers all areas of construction, including massive wood elements and wood components. We also offer sawn timber goods, biocomposites and pellets for sustainable heating.
LOOKING UP TO SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
Entering a space, many of us look down or straight ahead. If we can tear our eyes away from our devices and look out, even up, then we’ll probably see the result of one of this decade’s major design trends: exposed beams and rafters, or rib panels.
These open ceilings can brighten an office, cozy-up a school building, or bring a rustic charm to modern residential construction. While including them in a room design used to be costly, weighty, and involve steel or concrete, Stora Enso is now bringing a renewable alternative in rib panels.
Rib panels, the structures that actually make the floors and roofs of a building, are traditionally made from concrete. Stora Enso has recently launched rib panels made of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), which offer architectural freedom and structural performance.
WHY WOOD?
In schools of design, wood represents innovation and creativity. It brings warmth and elegance to a space. However, wood can be perceived as a material only for decorative solutions and small scale construction.
Stora Enso’s CLT method is lightweight, cost-competitive and environmentally sound – and fully suitable for commercial, industrial and residential construction. The rib panels are ready to install so there’s no dust during construction. The CLT rib panels have superior strength, stability and high load-bearing capacity. The space between ribs can be used to route service lines or other installations, making it an ideal choice for public buildings.
In addition, the rib panels allow for architectural flexibility over the lifetime of a space. By choosing a rib panel, a row of columns and beams can easily be omitted, increasing open plan space and therefore floor plan and usage options.
The good spanning capability is also a benefit for buildings with car parks or other similar spaces.
Additionally, as a construction material, wood can do something that competing materials can’t: wood grows back!
Spirit of innovation
Manchester’s latest timber framed pavilion, home of the new Ivy Restaurant, is a celebration of ambition and green values. Pushing the boundaries of timber construction and spanning four floors from brasserie to roof garden, it uses Stora Enso’s CLT rib panels for the floors and CLT for the walls. Timber contractor was B&K Structures.
INVESTING IN INNOVATIVE BUILDING
The rib panel offering is based on Stora Enso’s Glulam and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) products. The new rib panel production line is located next to the CLT production in Stora Enso’s Ybbs mill in Austria. Mathieu Robert, Director for Building Solutions, says the benefits are numerous:
“Our rib panels are designed to provide long span building components with high-load bearing capacity, suitable for open and highly flexible floor plans. Additionally, made in a climate-controlled environment, the tailor-made rib panels can be transported to building site just in time for assembly, saving time and ensuring high quality,” Robert says.
BENEFITS TO BUILDERS
CLT rib panels are prefabricated and lightweight. This makes the work flow quicker from delivery to assembly compared to other construction methods. No forming or curing time, no special equipment needed. Using CLT rib panels means no noise and dust pollution normally associated with construction using non-renewable materials.
There are fewer pieces to install, so construction programs save time in preliminary steps, focusing instead on other construction activities. Long span floors with CLT rib panels can reduce the number of components to be installed by up to 20–30% keeping the construction costs down.
While a long span layout may have a higher overall frame cost, efficiencies in other areas of the construction can compensate for this and bring savings in total costs. In poor soil conditions, a reduced loading from lower self-weight will help keep foundation works to a minimum. The capability of CLT rib panels, spanning over long distances, will increase the foundation grid and therefore reduce the total foundation cost.
Best of all, the rib panels meet the demand of creating spaces that are stylish, elegant, and timeless.
Get in touch with us
T +46 1046 46000 (SE) / +358 2046 131 (FI)
Radio Tower & Hotel
Manhattan, New York, USA
Architects: MVRDV
November saw the first US project for legendary Dutch architects MVRDV break ground in New York, in the form of a 21,800-square-meter mixed-used scheme. Combining a hotel, retail units and office spaces, the design is characteristic of the architects’ quirky aesthetic. It brings together multiple boxes of different bright colours, creating space for both cut-throughs and roof terraces to maximise outside space. It is set for completion in 2021.
Image courtesy of MVRDV
Bank of Africa Tower
Johannesburg, South Africa
Architects: Rafael De La-Hoz / CHB Cabinet Hakim Benjelloun
Set to be the tallest skyscraper in the continent when completed, the Bank of Africa Tower began construction at the start of November. Designed to achieved LEED Gold and HQE ratings, the 820ft tall skyscraper will house apartments, a luxury hotel and office facilities across 55 floors. The project is being sponsored by the Moroccan BCME Bank of Africa, and it set to cost around £250m. It will be completed by May 2022.
Image courtesy of Rafael De La-Hoz
Miami Underline
Miami, Florida, USA
Architects: James Corner Field Operations
Work has begun on the Underline, a 10 mile-long park and trail that will sit below the city’s elevated Metrorail. The project has been described as Miami’s answer to New York’s High Line, and is by the same landscape architect. When completed, it will feature cycle and pedestrian paths flanked by extensive landscaping. It has been achieved through several years of campaigning and support from activists, governments and businesses and will cost up to $120m. It set to be completed by the summer of 2020.
Image courtesy of James Corner Field Operations and Friends of the Underline
Grand Avenue Towers
Los Angeles, California, USA
Architect: Frank Gehry
Over a decade after it was originally proposed, the Grand Avenue Towers project has begun construction. Located opposite the Walt Disney Concert Hall, also designed by Gehry, the towers will combine retail and entertainment, topped by private residences. The housing will consist of 113 condos and 323 apartments, 20% of which will be low-income. The site will also house a 314-room hotel. Grand Avenue Towers is designed to turn the area into a central entertainment district, and will cost an estimated $1bn. It is set for completion in 2021.
Image courtesy of Gehry Partners
Audrey Irmas Pavilion
Los Angeles, California, USA
Architects: OMA
Designed by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu, the Audrey Irmas Pavilion is set to expand the existing Wiltshire Boulevard Temple with a striking standalone structure. Consisting of three-storeys, the pavilion will include space for supportive services and the temple congregation. It will also house a main event space, sunken garden and a smaller, multi-purpose area. Set to cost $75m, it will be completed in 2020.
Image courtesy of OMA
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