Hawkins\Brown and Regal Homes complete The Cube at17 – 21 Wenlock Road, Hackney: Europe’s tallest hybrid CLT residential building.

Hawkins\Brown, as commissioned by Regal Homes, has completed 49 new homes on Wenlock Road in Hackney. The £10 million Cube building, located at 17 – 21 Wenlock Road, has a unique timber/steel hybrid structure and is the tallest building to use structural cross-laminated timber in Europe, with its ten stories reaching a total height of 33 metres.

The 6,750 sq m scheme, for which Regal Homes won the London Evening Standard New Homes Award for Developments of Outstanding Architectural Merit in 2015, has been designed with a twisted cruciform plan, ensuring each apartment has views up and down the neighbouring canal basin to the west, or across the park to the east. The cruciform layout turns the traditional inward-looking courtyard block on its head, creating four courtyards that face out towards the surrounding city, creating views and improving access to light and air from apartments that have three external walls.

1,190sq m of commercial space has been created on the ground floor of the development, facing onto WenlockRoad. Alex Smith, Associate at Hawkins\Brown said: “The Cubebreaks new ground and demonstrates the great potential of Cross Laminated Timber as a material that enables rapid construction with a reduced environmental impact. “The cruciform layout of the development is an important factor in the quality of the apartments – homes with three external walls have great access to natural light and can be properly cross-ventilated, making them more comfortable during hot weather. It also creates wonderful views, which we have maximised by ensuring each apartment has a decent-sized balcony or terrace.” Simon de Friend, CEO at Regal Homes, added: “The Cube was created to be a pioneer of architectural possibilities, pushing the boundaries of residential construction and developing homes that are also works of art. “The recognition that The Cube has received for its design and construction credentials is a testament to its innovative design, and our ability to interpret and realise the ambitious vision that the architect had for the scheme. Arguably the ‘unbuildable building’, our inhouse construction arm has broken new ground with this project and we will look to building on this legacy with further CLT developments in the imminent future.”

To achieve the unique “twisted stack” layout of The Cube, which has floors that cantilever out from the main mass of the building, Hawkins\Brown worked with specialist contractor B+K Structures to develop a CLT and steel hybrid structure built around a reinforced concrete core.

The CLT panels and elements of the steel frame were manufactured offsite and brought together for assembly, minimising wet trades and time on site. The CLT panels are set into the steel frame, bracing it to form an integral part of the structure. The hybrid structure makes intelligentuse of the best properties of both materials to create a lightweight, strong and modern construction that achieves much lower embodied carbon emissions than an equivalent concrete frame.

The elevations of the building have been clad in slatted western red cedar. An open screen of black brick creates an orthogonal grid that wraps around the Wenlock Road elevation of the building, creating a visual harmony with the neighbouring buildings appropriate to the nearby conservation area.

MUTIG – VON VIER SEITEN UMMANTELT.

Massgefertigte und im Off mit Riemchen bekleidete Elemente haben eine Klinkerfinish-Pionierarbeit in Sachen Designflexibilität, Zeiteffizienz und Wirtschaftlichkeit geleistet.

So groß der Gestaltungsfreiraum für Hawkins & Brown Architekten zwar war – so groß war auch der Zeit- und Kostenoptimierungsdruck, dieses herausfordernde Wohngebäude fertigzustellen. Keine optimalen Voraussetzungen für eine mit Klinkerriemchen vierseitig bekleidete Konstruktion, die eher einem Kunstwerk gleicht und Großbritanniens höchstes aus Hybrid-Kreuzverbundholz (CLT) erbautes Gebilde über zehn Stockwerke ziert.

Doch der Klinkerfinish-Gitterschirm war zentraler Bestandteil der Architektur und Stilmittel für das Spiel von Verbindung und Abgrenzung zu Nachbarn und Naturschutzgebiet. Eine Lösung wurde gesucht und gefunden. Mit schwarzen Ströher Klinkerriemchen Zeitlos kohleglanz im NF-Format bekleideten und maßgeschneidert vorgefertigten Gebrik SR70-90 Paneelen als dreiseitige U-Elemente und L-geformte Ecken konnte das Gitte kosten- und zeitoptimal vollständig ummantelt werden.

Dank minimalen Gewichts und der flachen Verpackung der durchnummerierten Modulteile konnten diese platzsparend mit dem vorhandenen Kran auf dem Dach auf Abruf zwischengelagert werden. Das diente dem Zeitplan und war nicht nur kostengünstiger, als vorgefertigte Betonbalken und Säulen vor Ort zu bekleiden – es bedurfte auch keiner zusätzlichen strukturellen Unterstützung.

Etwa 1.700qm Aquarian Gebrik Isolierziegel Fassadensystem wurden so in vier Monaten vor Ort montiert. Die Fassade stellt nicht nur einen Triumph in Sachen Effizienz und Ästhetik dar, sondern wurde auch mehrfach preisgekrönt.