Baden House of Farmers in Freiburg, Germany

Structures Analysed with Dlubal Software

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RFEM model of Baden House of Farmers (© Göppert Bauingenieure)

"Haus der Bauern" in Freiburg with eye-catching glass façade (© Werkgruppe Lahr)

Customer Project

28 January 2015

Germany RFEM Timber Structures Glass Structures & Facades Buildings

Structural Engineering	Göppert Bauingenieure Lahr, Germany www.gbi-statik.de
Architect	Werkgruppe Lahr Lahr, Germany www.werkgruppe-lahr.de
Investor	Farmers' Association of Baden (BLHV) Freiburg, Germany www.blhv.de

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

The four-story building offers more than 100 workplaces within a 2,000 m² office space.

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

Construction

The "Haus der Bauern" in Freiburg has the outer dimensions L x W x H = approximately 55 m x 18 m x 14 m. Inside the building, a staircase core made of reinforced concrete serves as structural stiffening. Apart from that, timber has been almost exclusively used for the supporting structure: The walls, columns and binding girders consist of glued laminated timber, the ceilings of cross‑laminated timber plus an 8 cm concrete layer.

The shear connection between the 20 cm 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 good noise insulation.

The exterior wall structure ensures good thermal insulation: 20 cm solid timber wall, 20 cm non-flammable mineral wool and 8 cm laminated spruce as the façade. And at a distance of 14 cm, the glass construction is placed in front.

For this project, costing 8 million Euros, approximately 3,000 m³ spruce wood and 2,000 m³ silver fir were used for the construction.