"Graphite Apartments" are so named because both the graphite and the wood used to build the house contain carbon. And in order to emphasize this chemical bond, the facades of the building are faced with graphite-colored panels - black and gray.
Now that the nine-storey building with 29 apartments has stood the test of time, it is possible to analyze the success of using in its construction multi-layer glued timber with longitudinal-transverse orientation of layers - CLT (Cross Laminated Timber). This material resembles thick plywood - from three to seven layers of wooden lamellas are glued alternately lengthwise and crosswise with non-toxic glue. Due to their large thickness (30 cm and more), they have excellent thermal insulation and fire resistance. The charring rate of CLT panels is 0.67 mm per minute. That is, for charring only the 1st panel with a thickness of 300 mm, it will take almost two and a half hours. The cross-laminated structure gives the panels stability, significantly reducing the effect of shrinkage and swelling. Glued panels have a significantly higher density than wood. "Graphite apartments" are remarkable for the fact that wood is used in all building envelopes and supporting structures (walls, roof, interfloor ceilings, staircases), including stiffening cores - lift shafts.
Only the first floor and foundation are cast in concrete. However, now the author of the project, Andrew Waugh (Waugh Thistleton Architects), says that the first floor should have been made of wood.
Facade finishing is made of 5000 panels with dimensions 1200x230mm made of eternit - a fiber-cement material, 70% consisting of wood waste. A pixelated pattern of black, gray and white panels was created by capturing light and shadow from surrounding buildings and trees. To create the image of the "Graphite Apartments", the authors were inspired by the abstract "Colored Plates" and "Gray Paintings" by the artist Gerhard Richter.
The wood panels were produced in Austria (KLH Massivholz GmbH) from spruce dies. Window and door openings, technical openings, channels for electrical wiring were made in the panels in advance, during the production process. In London, a building was “assembled” from them, as from a constructor with the help of metal brackets and screws.
The panels' high degree of readiness allowed only four workers to assemble one floor per week. And the entire construction was completed in 49 weeks.
The main attention of the engineers was focused on ensuring the stability of the structure against progressive collapse and good noise and sound insulation of the apartments. To improve sound insulation, floating floors and soundproofing of floor and partition joints were made. As a result, the acoustic performance exceeded the norms specified in the regulations for residential buildings.
Nine floors is not the limit for glued timber. Experts from KLH UK (a construction company and supplier of CLT panels in the UK) believe that this technology can be used to build buildings up to 15 floors, and the concrete core will help to rise even higher - possibly up to 50 floors.
