Metsä Wood is constantly looking for new partners who use Kerto® LVL (laminated veneer lumber) in innovative modular construction projects. One example is 369 Pattern Buildings, a joint project with the modular construction company Harmet, architects from the Estonian Academy of Arts and engineers interested in timber construction.
Kristo Kalbe, energy efficiency engineer of 369 Pattern Buildings, points out that the main goal of the Pattern Buildings project is to create a mass-customisable system based on modular design.
“Unique buildings can be built based on the same mass-produced structural system. This is the idea of Pattern Buildings: using the same building components, one can build very small houses, as well as apartment buildings and hospitals,” he says. The Pattern Building system allows timber buildings with up to seven floors.
The walls of the basic modules used in the Pattern Buildings concept need to have large openings adaptable to different requirements.
“The openings can be used for large rooms or windows if that’s what a customer needs. However, large openings weaken the modules. Here, Kerto LVL is of help as well. It allows us to use a more sustainable material instead of steel or concrete, which require more energy to produce. As LVL is also much lighter, the total weight of the building is smaller. This helps to save resources spent on the foundation for example,” says Kalbe.
Last year, a project Pattern Building, Turu 21, came fourth in the Metsä Wood Hybrid City competition. The design is freely available on the Open Source Wood platform.
Watch a Talking Wood video, in which Kristo Kalbe, energy efficiency engineer of 369 Pattern Buildings, demonstrates and introduces the Pattern Building modules.