Nikken Sekkei expands academic facility utilizing mass timber
Tokyo-based architectural, planning, and engineering agency NIKKEN SEKKEI constructs Showa Gakuin Elementary College West Wing, an enlargement of an present faculty in Ichikawa Metropolis, Japan. Attending to the safety of forest sources via a correct harvesting and planting cycle, Nikken Wooden Lab, a division of Nikken Sekkei specializing within the analysis and growth of picket structure, pursues sustainability and explores new prospects for CLT as mass timber with the usage of home wooden. For the primary time in Japan, a challenge makes use of two-way CLT flat slabs for the development of a recent academic facility.
Situated on a web site that includes a two-kilometer stretch of cherry bushes alongside the Mamagawa River, the challenge employs the two-way CLT flat slab methodology that requires no beams following city planning laws limiting constructing top and adjustments to the townscape. The development permits for minimal floor-to-floor top and whole constructing top whereas sustaining the identical ceiling top as the prevailing faculty. The usage of CLT reduces the burden of the construction and minimizes its load on the inspiration.
The ground plan consists of normal lecture rooms on the south aspect and specialised examine halls on the north aspect, utilizing a easy 9-meter grid, a module of 1 common classroom. The fittings are designed to totally open to the central exercise plaza, forming an built-in and steady house for sophistication visits, open faculty occasions, and different occurrences.
all pictures by Gankohsha – Harunori Noda
uncovered CLT slabs adorn the outside and inside of the college
Uncovered CLT is employed for the inside, producing an summary composition of seamless continuity the place the timber transcends the features of the constructing, selling college students’ spontaneous creativity and spirit of exploration. Two layers of exterior eaves exhibit an expression of uncovered timber base ends and shade, achieved via the detailed shifting of the highest and backside surfaces of the two-way CLT flat slab. Varied elements of the constructing function fastidiously designed CLT particulars with slits that create intricate mild and shadow results and emphasize the timber’s volumetry. The brand new constructing by NIKKEN SEKKEI design observe is stuffed with pure wooden and goals to familiarize youngsters with nature, stimulate their creativeness, and educate them about forest sources and the worldwide setting.
the challenge pursues sustainability and explores new prospects for CLT as mass timber
picket development evokes consciousness of forest sources
The varied design strategy promotes curiosity and consciousness of forest sources and the setting, proposing an reasonably priced scale of picket development. The constructing’s principal elements, such because the picket columns and beams, have the next stage of fire-resistance efficiency than legally required, with additional thickness that may stop them from combusting within the occasion of a fireplace. This eliminates the necessity for compartment partitions, offering a extra versatile and expansive house the place CLT is used as each the structural and inside materials. The lean design, which totally exposes the construction and MEP, incorporates corridors and staircases designed to stimulate numerous actions and supply an area that encourages a sensory notion of the architectural course of. Every factor of the constructing is labeled with its species, origin of the wooden, and gear perform to lift consciousness of environmental and forestry points. This environmentally aware constructing contributes to the conclusion of carbon neutrality.
two-way CLT flat slabs are utilized for the development of a recent academic facility
