Stylish and sustainable Trondheim’s new student village
Europe’s largest cross laminated timber structure complete with Kebony cladding
Archetech - [Page 78]
Moholt 50|50, Trondheim’s latest student
accommodation, is set to become Europe’s
largest cross laminated timber structure
and a welcome addition to the city. With
construction now drawing to a close, this
new student village is expected to reach
completion in December 2016. The sleek
and stylish development has a sustainable
Kebony façade and will comprise five blocks
housing up to 632 students at the Norwegian
University of Science and Technology.
The vision for this student village is not only
to provide simple and affordable housing,
but also to make everyday life easier for
students to allow greater focus on their
studies. With a strong environmental and
community focus, Moholt 50|50 is intended
to be a valuable addition to the area which
will benefit the local community, rather than
being simply an extension of the university’s
existing accommodation. This project aims
to demonstrate that good architecture can
create a sense of place and of belonging,
irrespective of such a high turnover in tenants.
The main structure of the accommodation is
built using cross laminated timber, a relatively
new product which is increasingly popular
within the building industry.
certifying that Kebony was the perfect choice
for Moholt 50|50.
Trondheim will also benefit from large inward
investment initiated by this development,
with the construction of a new 1000m2
parking facility, activity and fitness centre,
library, medical centre, hairdresser,
supermarket and clothes shop. Moholt 50|50
will create new jobs for the local community,
while developing much needed facilities,
such as a kindergarten for 171 children whose
parents study at the university.
Dagfinn Sagen, MDH Arkitekter commented:
‘This is an incredibly ambitious project, and once
completed it will be the largest cross laminated
timber (CLT) construction project in Europe.
We chose Kebony for the build as it requires no
treatment throughout its whole life cycle, and
is the perfect choice when you need a cladding
material that is maintenance free. Over time, it
also naturally develops an attractive silver grey
patina, an aesthetic that we believe really works
for this project."
Throughout the development process there
has been a significant emphasis on promoting
environmental construction. As a result,
MDH Arkitekter chose to use Kebony wood
as the main building material for the façade,
offering a sustainable alternative to tropical
hardwood, cement and brick. Norway has
a long tradition of building with wood and
Kebony’s environmental attributes perfectly
complement this sustainable design.
The patented Kebony technology treats
sustainable softwood with furfuryl alcohol,
an agricultural by-product, to polymerise the
cell wall which gives the final product greatly
improved durability and dimensional stability.
The resulting timber is a high performing,
beautiful wood product. A recent study by
environmental consulting firm Bergfald
& Co. demonstrated that Kebony has a
substantially lower carbon footprint than its
tropical hardwood equivalents, between 15
and 30 times lower, inclusive of treatment
and transportation to Northern Europe, thus
Mette Valen, sales manager at Kebony added:
‘The project team working on Moholt 50|50
have done an incredible job, creating a large
and striking building in the midst of a built
up residential area. We were really pleased
to see that they placed such importance on
environmental values, and we hope that the
size of the build will show others that even large
scale projects can place sustainability as a key
focus.’
www.kebony.com