Baden House of Farmers in Freiburg, Germany

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CP 000977 | Baden House of Farmers in Freiburg, Germany

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House of Farmers in Freiburg with its Eye-Catching Glass Facade (Photo: Werkgruppe Lahr)

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01/28/2015

000977

Glass Structures & Facades

The new headquarters of the Baden Farmers' Association (BLHV) is unique. The timber construction is protected by a glass facade to counteract graying caused by weather conditions. Although the architects of Werkgruppe Lahr have sufficient experience in timber construction, the wooden house with glass cladding has been a "model project" for them.

Structural Engineering	Göppert Civil Engineers, Lahr, Germany www.gbi-statik.de
Architect	Werkgruppe Lahr, Lahr, Germany www.werkgruppe-lahr.de
Investor	Baden Agricultural Association (BLHV), Freiburg, Germany www.blhv.de

Model

Model | Timber House with Glass Cladding

The four-story building offers more than 100 workplaces in 21,527.8 ft² of office space.

Structural analysis of the solid timber construction was done by a Dlubal Software customer, the engineering office Göppert Bauingenieure from Lahr, Germany.

Structure

The House of Farmers in Freiburg has the outer dimensions L x W x H = approximately 180 ft x 59 ft x 46 ft. Inside the building, a staircase core made of reinforced concrete serves as structural stiffening. Apart from that, timber has been used almost exclusively for the supporting structure: The walls, columns, and binding girders consist of glued-laminated timber, the ceilings of cross‑laminated timber plus a 3.1-inch concrete layer.

The shear connection between the 7.8-inch-thick wooden ceiling and the concrete is ensured by diagonally inserted FP connectors. From a structural point of view, this hybrid solution has the advantage that the effectiveness of the ceiling panel to transfer horizontal loads is improved. In addition, the concrete provides good noise insulation.

The exterior wall structure ensures good thermal insulation: 7.8-inch solid timber wall, 7.8-inch non-flammable mineral wool and 3.1-inch laminated spruce as the facade. And the glass construction is placed in front of the facade, at a distance of 5.5 inches.

For this project, costing 8 million euros, approximately 105,944 ft³ spruce wood and 70,629 ft³ silver fir were used for the construction.