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 | | CREDIBLE CONSTRUCTIONS USE KERTO | | | Finnforest UK | | 07/11/2007 | | | Kerto, the laminated veneer lumber (LVL) exclusively manufactured by Finnforest, is playing an important role in delivering challenging and award-winning buildings for architects and specifiers.
Scooping Gold at the recent Wood Awards, in addition to its RIBA National Award, the Formby Pool project was described as ‘transcendental in its calmness and simplicity’ by the judges of the Wood Awards. Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios used Kerto for the bowstring trusses that support the roof of the pool building, while a plywood diaphragm deck is supported by engineered Kerto I-beams, all supplied by Finnforest.
Andy Couling, Partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley was intrigued by the possibilities Kerto offered: “We had not used Kerto before, but at Formby Pool we specified it for both the structural supporting system and for the sheet materials. Its inherent strength for wide spans was a driving factor in making this decision. Appearance was a consideration too. I particularly like the aesthetic Kerto provides. It has a very directional quality, so its surfaces appear differently according to which way it is installed.”
Because of the strength Kerto provides, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios was able to create a seamless roof deck with no visible joints. “Using a large sheet size, Kerto allowed us to achieve what we did with Formby Pool,” says Andy Couling.
Glenn Howells Architects also recognised the value of Kerto when designing the Wood Awards Gold award-winning Savill Garden visitor centre, which was also short-listed for the RIBA Stirling Prize. Structural engineer Buro Happold and engineers HRW raised the roof, the principle form of the building, 9m above ground level on steel pillars. As the largest timber gridshell structure in Europe the roof stretches for some 90m x 25m, appearing as a three-domed, double-curved canopy, housing a restaurant, shop, seminar rooms, offices and a planteria beneath. Kerto elements were incorporated into the system of interlocking larch laths and oak cladding, playing a key role in the roof’s support structure by connecting the gridshell to a steel perimeter tube ring and legs reaching to the ground.
Kerto was also elemental in delivering a grid structure for one of the architectural calendar’s most prestigious events. Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souta de Moura designed 2005’s award-winning Serpentine Pavilion as a handcrafted grid structure. Structural engineers Arup proposed Kerto as the ideal material to meet the loading requirements of the job. Kerto was selected for its intrinsic structural strength and homogenous appearance. The result was a grid structure with distinctive mortice and tenon joints that were precision cut to such high tolerances that the Serpentine Pavilion required no mechanical fixing between elements.
Marlowe Academy in Ramsgate won the Wood Awards Structural Category, the RIBA Sorrell Foundation Schools Award and the RIBA National Award (going on to be short-listed for the Stirling Prize) thanks to architects Building Design Partnership’s innovative approach to light and space in the education environment. Central to this is the timber and glass gridshell roof that spans 20m across the central area of the school. The roof consists of a triangular grid of downstand ribs that support the roof deck directly above, all in exposed timber. Kerto was used for the ribs and sheathing. The diagonal ribs that curve in plan maintain an even spacing between the longitudinal ribs, resulting in a regular grid of triangles across the entire roof.
“Designing and building sustainable buildings need not compromise their dramatic visual impact,” says Warren Dudding, Head of Marketing for Finnforest, “As an engineered timber product Kerto provides the elemental strength required to deliver keynote architectural triumphs such as the Formby Pool, Savill Garden building and the Marlowe Academy, but as a certified timber component it also represents an environmental choice in building materials.” | |
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