The largest student village of Trondheim is located in the Muholt district. The first buildings of dormitories appeared there in the 1960s, but over the past years the necessary infrastructure has not been created, that is, it was stereotypical housing for students - the cheapest possible option, without any additional investments.
The Moholt 50 | 50 project was developed for a competition that summed up the half-century existence of the village in Muholta and invited participants to think about the next fifty years. The victory for the architects of MDH was brought by the combination of five blocks of collective housing for students with a diverse community program, blurring the quality - psychological - border between the village and the surrounding residential areas.
The ground floors of five 28-meter Y-shaped towers house a gym, hairdresser, medical center, laundry and grocery store. The kindergarten and the library are located in a separate low building.
All structures are constructed of cross-laminated timber, making Moholt 50 | 50 the largest project of this material in Europe (total area - 21,700 m2). Only the basement and first floors of the towers are made of monolithic concrete, and from the second to the upper, ninth level, they are built from prefabricated CLT-elements, and they are maximally open to the interior. The facades are clad in treated pine wood panels. The use of CLT has reduced CO2 emissions from building materials by 57% and from energy costs by 70%, compared to the Norwegian standard.
Each of the eight residential floors is one "student collective" of 15 residential units (each with its own bathroom). Common areas are represented by an entrance hall with wardrobes, a living / dining room and a kitchen. Such a device, the architects believe, gives students both an individual space for their personal needs, and a public area that develops their cooperation skills, a sense of social responsibility and tolerance.
