When choosing an environmentally friendly construction system, considering the type of material and its carbon footprint is essential.
Under the principles of sustainability, we have proposed to develop a system based on a "timber frame", tropicalizing the spaces, details, and finishes, in addition to adapting it to the seismic code of Costa Rica.
The structural base in wood was of great importance since wood is a natural, renewable, and recyclable resource; with it, we achieve resistant and light structures; this allows less bulky foundations and gives us a lot of freedom in the design of the spaces.
By maintaining a strict modulation based on the sizes of wood on the market and the cladding materials, it is possible to optimize the amount of material, making waste minimal, found in AMANCO fundamental support to deliver the highest quality structure, drying levels, the precision in the cuts and different concentrations of treatment, have allowed us to work the system during the rainy season without much concern, the wood that makes up the main structure, although fully protected from the environment, is chosen to maintain a basic level of treatment as prevention against insect or fungal attack.
We have extended the modulation from the foundation to different types of roofs and mezzanines.
Taking advantage of the structure´s lightweight nature, the foundation being a floating concrete slab, the ability to create composite beams on site has allowed us a robust mezzanine that supports a concrete slab as the second level floor.
AMANCO also provided wood in higher treatment concentrations to be used in external spaces where the structure is exposed to rain and wind, but always maintaining the same wood measurements, therefore allowing us to extend the modulation to the entire project.
We designed two types of roofs, one inclined that supports a galvanized iron cover and another flat structure that supports fiber cement sheets sealed with the walls toped with a membrane to become a green roof.
The wood is easily cut and modified with the help of easy-to-use manual or electric tools, the wood, was raised to roof level with an easy-to-operate manual crane, the joints are assembled with nails, screws, bolts or special connectors, depending on their structural characteristics.
It is a construction system with considerable savings in water and drying times; its ease of work and considering that is mostly dry construction make it a fast and efficient sistem.
Wood treated against insects and fungi is long-lasting. There are structures of more than two centuries that prove it.
It also has a series of characteristics that make it superior to other materials; wood is a material composed of hollow fibers aligned axially along the length of the tree; these holes or spaces contain trapped air that gives it excellent qualities such as sound and heat insulation; as far as acoustic insulation is concerned, wood is ten times more efficient than reinforced concrete and five times more than partitions or bricks; thermal insulation of wood is excellent, approximately six times more efficient than brick, 15 times more than concrete or stone and 400 times more than steel.
These attributes elevate the users' quality of life since it provides silence and privacy, which also reduces the stress of its inhabitants and maintains a cooler environment due to its thermal characteristics, so it is not necessary to resort to supplementary synthetic materials; wood also has qualities that are favorable to the health of users, for example, the natural bioelectric field of wood provides balance in the human body and contributes to achieving a biophilic design.
And finally, wood is a renewable material; it does not require polluting products for its production, which would affect human health in the medium or long term, as do other materials.
Comments