Brussels, Belgium

Extreme housing

“ The Matroshka”: Sustainability with steel

Huttunen-Lipasti-Pakkanen, Pekka Pakkanen, Risto Huttunen, Santeri Lipasti

Using steel as the bearing structure of the housing system allows minimal use of material. Prefabricated construction units allow accurate joints, air tightness and fast construction. When the construction time period on site is minimized, the weather conditions will not harm the building. The transportation of light prefabricated units is energy efficient.

Connecting to the Russian housing tradition

The houses of vernacular Russian villages are placed in a row on both sides of the streets. Simple houses can be heavily ornamented in the street facing end. Sites are clearly defined and bordered with fences. The yard often includes a kitchen garden.

House for the cold

Basics

The biggest opening is facing south. There can be small windows facing east and west. A bulky shape with minimal surface area and as few corners as possible. Sufficient insulation and airtight envelope. No cold bridges. There is shelter from the cooling winds especially in north, east and west.

Insulation

The scheme introduces two various ways of insulating the house. When choosing eco-wool thermal insulations inside sandwich-panels it is easy to achieve fast and economical construction technique without extra thick outer walls. When focusing on the low CO2 emissions one can choose a straw-insulation. Straws are treated in a similar way as in a traditional straw roof and attached to the bearing steel panels with wiring and a steel mesh. To reach the targeted U-value of 0,10 the depth of the straw-wall is 100 cm.

Greenhouse

The first floor spaces open towards the garden through a green house. This room can be used as continuation of the living areas in the warm season. The green house is not heated but it preserves solar energy in its stone-covered floor.

Sheltering layer

The outmost perimeter of the house is made of a semi-transparent layer of steel. This curtain wall shelters the house from cold winds, rain, snow and exposure to solar heat. The layer consists of steel treated as a mesh or perforated panels. The street end of this wall is articulated with patterns of colour and/or various ways of perforation.

Snowfences

On the boundaries of each site there is a fence made of steel mesh. In the summer all the cooling winds are allowed to flow through the fences. In the winter the snow fills the holes and the fences create closed spaces.

Modularity

The scheme introduces three building sizes: S=120m2, M=142m2 and L=150m2. Different sizes are created by adding or removing modules. There is one sanitary/kitchen/installation/thermal unit that is designed to work with all the sizes.

Thermal wall

On the southern side of the sanitary unit there is a thermal wall that collects and reserves solar energy in the cold season. The wall is built of steel plates and filled with blast-furnace slag that is a side product of steel production. During summer the thermal wall is cooled by night air.

Additional units

The system includes a cold shed and an optional sauna-unit.

Ventilation

The ventilation system is based on natural airflow and mechanical ventilation. The fresh air is conducted through tubing placed in the earth. In summer the ventilation is lead naturally through two roof windows. In the winter time the mechanical ventilation collects the heat energy. The fresh air is always pre-heated or pre-cooled by the earth and the thermal wall. The thermal wall is heated with solar energy and fireplace (liquid based heat exchange). The fireplace and the sun energy collectors heat also the central hot water tank.

Structure

Cold formed perforated C-profiles made of 2mm steel plates or cold formed plates with straw walls. 1200mm modules in wall-, floor- and roof panels. Depth of the building volume is optimized to 6 meters to minimize the use of material.

U-values

Walls 0,10 W/m2K Roof 0,09 W/m2K Floor 0,10 W/m2K Triple glazed windows 0,80 W/m2K Doors 0,70 W/m2K

Airtightness 0,6 1/h

Annual heat gain from ventilation 75%

Heating: 30 kWh/A per m2 Total consumption: 100kWh/A per m2

Water can be heated with solar panels on the roof. Gray water is collected and stored in a container in the buffer zone next to the green house.

Europaconcorsi Beta

Extreme housing