Student hall in Linköping, Sweden

The role of ZAZA TIMBER Engineering in this project:
- Structural design development of timber load bearing structures;
- Detail drawings;
- Technical drawings for manufacture and assembly.

The whole building is made up of 3 independent parts – their load-bearing structures are interconnected only at the foundation level.

Load-bearing structures are mainly made of CLT – both wall panels and floor slabs. Individual walls at ground level are substituted by steel beams and columns on which rests walls above. Glulam beams and columns are designed both for exterior walls (exterior walls are made of infill panels) and to improve the comfort of users by reducing possible vibrations caused by usage of the building. The top floor is designed as open space made of glulam columns and beams. The stability of the building is ensured by CLT walls as well as elevator shaft and stairwell cores which are also made of CLT.

The load-bearing structures of the balconies use CLT panels that are supported by steel beams. The steel beams are supported on CLT floor panels. Special connection is used to reduce the cold bridge of steel beams. Foamglass has also been used to reduce cold bridges between load-bearing structures.

As part of the design, calculation models for different stages of construction were made, as the wind load during construction, when only one part was built, caused more loads on individual walls than in the calculation of the building as a whole.

Additional calculation models were also made to simulate the possible impact of vehicles from the adjacent street – the building was verified by removing individual walls and columns.

We also coordinated the compatibility of building services with the detailed structural model using IFC models - as the rooms are compact and the tolerances are very small due to the accessibility requirements, it was a challenge to combine building services and connectors in the small available space to avoid any clashes.