Woodcube Residential Building in Hamburg, Germany

The following data refer to the reinforced concrete structure of "Woodcube".

Length: ~ 52 ft | Width: ~ 52 ft | Height: ~ 105 ft
Nodes: 232 | Members: 39 | Surfaces: 51 | Finite Elements: 5033

Timber and Reinforced Concrete Structure

What is really revolutionary is the fact that the timber core of the building, including ceilings and floors, consists of completely untreated wood remaining visible in the outdoor as well as the indoor areas.

The Woodcube is composed of prefabricated wall, floor, and roof elements consisting of timber. Due to the high degree of prefabrication, the wooden shell was completed within four weeks. It is placed on the basement and built around the central access core with the staircase and the elevator, both made of reinforced concrete.

The basement rests on a total of 22 full displacement bored piles of Ø 20 inches, which are inserted 42.6 ft into the ground. The load applied on each pile head is up to 224.81 kip. In order to transfer the loading in an optimal way, a circumferential pile head beam is arranged below the external walls.

The basement is made of waterproof concrete. All in all, the external walls of the wooden cube have a thickness of 12.5 inches, including a layer of t = 1.1 inches for thermal insulation consisting of softboards. The facade is based on a ventilated coating made of untreated larch wood.

The loads are transferred by the external walls and the walls of the central access core. Thus, no further columns or load‑bearing interior walls are needed. This, in turn, allows for an individual room layout.