The five-storey ‘Woodcube’ apartment building is part of a new housing development in the centre of the Hamburg district of Wilhelmsburg. The building was erected for the International Building Exhibition (IBA) in Hamburg in 2013. Although its design seems more reserved and introverted than most of its neighbours, it is in fact the single new building in the ensemble where the architects have most seriously tried to take ecological design to a higher level.
The building is composed almost exclusively from wood – including the thermal insulation – with the exception of the basement level and the lift shaft. Furthermore, the construction itself is free of toxic glues, paints and solvents. All construction products were vetted with regard to building ecology; the project developer even ordered a life cycle analysis to be made for the building, considering not just its operation but also the construction and demolition phases. Heating, hot water and electricity supplies are carbon neutral, and the primary energy demand of the new-build exceeds the current legal requirements in Germany by nearly 70?%. This places the building at the ‘nearly zero energy’ standard, which will be required of all new buildings in Europe from 2021.
The building is composed almost exclusively from wood – including the thermal insulation – with the exception of the basement level and the lift shaft. Furthermore, the construction itself is free of toxic glues, paints and solvents. All construction products were vetted with regard to building ecology; the project developer even ordered a life cycle analysis to be made for the building, considering not just its operation but also the construction and demolition phases. Heating, hot water and electricity supplies are carbon neutral, and the primary energy demand of the new-build exceeds the current legal requirements in Germany by nearly 70?%. This places the building at the ‘nearly zero energy’ standard, which will be required of all new buildings in Europe from 2021.