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The Maintenance-Free House
The Maintenance-Free House
Nyborg, Denmark
Project Featured on Dec 11, 2014
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Other Projects by Arkitema Architects
The Maintenance-Free House
Nyborg, Denmark
Project Featured on Dec 11, 2014
A HOUSE WITH A 150-YEAR LIFETIME
In 2011, Realdania arranged a competition to draw the maintenance-free houses of the future. Arkitema Architects won that competition with a simple, wooden house.
The Maintenance-Free House is both architecturally and in construction a new version of the historic Danish wing-house. In the modern version, the roof has been turned into a glass skin that covers the entire house, on the sloping roof and on the vertical façades, and acts as a building envelope affording effective protection for the organic and biodegradable materials against the elements. The glass works simultaneously as a large, integrated solar panel on the building. The overall plywood frame of the house was prefabricated and transported by truck to the building site and assembled within two days, literally by means of a screwdriver.
The wooden structure also had to be adequately ventilated in order to keep it dry, which is why the house is lifted half a meter off the ground on stilts of concrete and why there is a gap between the plywood structure and the glass skin. The gap creates a natural chimney effect, sucking in air at the bottom and letting it out at the top of the roof. No complicated mechanical ventilation system is needed — natural forces are at work here.
The house is raised 10 inches above the ground with a surrounding moat so future increases in rainfall amounts will have no effect. Overall, the house can be constructed in less than 2 weeks.
The interior is very simple and symmetrically arranged, with two rooms in each end of the house. A wooden box follows the overall form of the house, creating a generously large space with views from one end of the house to the other. The inside surfaces won’t need any maintenance other than the occasional wipe, and installations, placed under a floor panel along the façade, are readily accessible for repairing or updating. Furthermore, the house contains a central core with a bathroom and technical room, which splits the open common room into a dining area and a sitting area. The core is the only permanent element in the house, which is constructed of prefabricated, self-supporting modules that are assembled with steel mountings. Together they create a cohesive framework construction. The frame construction provides stability and makes it possible to remove all internal building elements.
Because of the house’s long lifespan of up to 150 years and a low — or no — demand for maintenance for the first 50 years, it is possible to save the carbon equivalent of building two or three new houses.
The house is designed by Arkitema Concept in close cooperation with Realdania. The Department of Energy and Environment (The Danish Building Research Institute) analyses and calculates the LCA and CO2 footprints of the building and has been involved as an important knowledge partner. Early in the process, Arkitema Concept also involved the contractor Enemærke & Petersen to ensure that the initial conception of The Maintenance-Free House will be realized in the final building.
In 2011, Realdania arranged a competition to draw the maintenance-free houses of the future. Arkitema Architects won that competition with a simple, wooden house.
The Maintenance-Free House is both architecturally and in construction a new version of the historic Danish wing-house. In the modern version, the roof has been turned into a glass skin that covers the entire house, on the sloping roof and on the vertical façades, and acts as a building envelope affording effective protection for the organic and biodegradable materials against the elements. The glass works simultaneously as a large, integrated solar panel on the building. The overall plywood frame of the house was prefabricated and transported by truck to the building site and assembled within two days, literally by means of a screwdriver.
The wooden structure also had to be adequately ventilated in order to keep it dry, which is why the house is lifted half a meter off the ground on stilts of concrete and why there is a gap between the plywood structure and the glass skin. The gap creates a natural chimney effect, sucking in air at the bottom and letting it out at the top of the roof. No complicated mechanical ventilation system is needed — natural forces are at work here.
The house is raised 10 inches above the ground with a surrounding moat so future increases in rainfall amounts will have no effect. Overall, the house can be constructed in less than 2 weeks.
The interior is very simple and symmetrically arranged, with two rooms in each end of the house. A wooden box follows the overall form of the house, creating a generously large space with views from one end of the house to the other. The inside surfaces won’t need any maintenance other than the occasional wipe, and installations, placed under a floor panel along the façade, are readily accessible for repairing or updating. Furthermore, the house contains a central core with a bathroom and technical room, which splits the open common room into a dining area and a sitting area. The core is the only permanent element in the house, which is constructed of prefabricated, self-supporting modules that are assembled with steel mountings. Together they create a cohesive framework construction. The frame construction provides stability and makes it possible to remove all internal building elements.
Because of the house’s long lifespan of up to 150 years and a low — or no — demand for maintenance for the first 50 years, it is possible to save the carbon equivalent of building two or three new houses.
The house is designed by Arkitema Concept in close cooperation with Realdania. The Department of Energy and Environment (The Danish Building Research Institute) analyses and calculates the LCA and CO2 footprints of the building and has been involved as an important knowledge partner. Early in the process, Arkitema Concept also involved the contractor Enemærke & Petersen to ensure that the initial conception of The Maintenance-Free House will be realized in the final building.
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