Building sequence

This is the situation before the construction starts. 

To make place for the CU-building, the ‘Oude telefooncentrale’ has to be carefully demolished. To lower the amount of new materials, the concrete floors of the building will be stored for later use.

The façade of Microlab will be stripped and stored on the construction site. The stripping is important to make the necessary adaptions in the west-wing. Most of the façade elements will be adapted and re-used later on in the construction process.

 As could be noted on the other pages of the website, the CU-building features 4 steel supports which go through Microlab. For their foundations, a hole will be made in the ground floor of Microlab. Following, the in total 6 meter piles will be driven into the ground in 3 part of 2 meters by specific small machinery. Afterwards the foundation block will be cast. 

When the foundation is ready, whole should be made in the first floor and roof of Microlab. Then the steel supports can be placed in two parts. The first part is 13 meters and goes until the roof of Microlab. The 9 meter long second part will be attached to the bottom part by a thermal interrupting connection as can be seen in Detail 1.  

Since the steel supports without an thermal interruption would create a massive thermal bridge, it was important to find a solution. Both the supports feature a steel headplate on top of the SHS profile to connect the bolts. In between the headplates, compression proof XPS insulation has been placed. 

When the steel supports are placed, it is time to start the construction of the CU building. At first the necessary soil will be excavated. From there the pile foundation can be driven into the ground, the strip foundation can be layed and the foundation blocks can be cast. 

To provide stability throughout the whole construction process, the cores are constructed first. The 2 by 2 meter CLT  plates will be lifted into placed and connected to each other.  

When the cores are in place, the first layer of columns can be placed.  

Since the ground floor will be directly placed upon the soil, the slabs will not need specific reinforcement to counter act the bending. Therefore the old floors of the ‘Oude telefoon centrale’ can be used as ground floor. These different slabs will be mechanically connected and covered by a layer of freshly cast concrete to make it a unified floor.

Since the ground floor will be directly placed upon the soil, the slabs will not need specific reinforcement to counter act the bending. Therefore the old floors of the ‘Oude telefoon centrale’ can be used as ground floor. These different slabs will be mechanically connected and covered by a layer of freshly cast concrete to make it a unified floor. 

The linear elements of the trusses will be transported to the site and assembled on the ground as can be seen in Detail 2. Then the full truss will be lifted into place. The connection of the steel support to the truss can be seen in Detail 3. 

As said earlier, timber construction allows high possibilities of pre-fabricated preparations. Therefore, the linear elements only have to be put together to create a larger structural element like the truss.

As said, the truss will be lifted fully into place onto the steel supports. Both elements are already prepared for this step and therefore only have to be bolted up.

After the two linear trusses are in place, the 3 transversal trusses can be lifted and connected. These transversal trusses are necessary to support the top part of the structure. 

The timber frame can now be furtherly constructed and the floors can be placed.  

The kerto ripa floorsystem are prefabricated slabs and will be easily lifted into place. This detail shows its build up and how it is supported by the truss. The panels are already prefabricated with future construction steps in mind. 

While other buildings often feature a different sub-structure for their balconies, the balconies of the CU-building are an elongation of the floors. The low surface area and conductivity of the structural LVL timber and the connection of the insulation to the façade insulation prevents a undesirable thermal bridge. 

Just like most of the construction, the façade elements will be transported to site in almost finished panels. The panels only have to be lifted in place and connected, which reduces construction time, labor cost and makes the building weather proof and therefore able to start the finishing phase intertwining. The choice for timber frame construction as façade element is based on its lower embodied energy, possibilities of prefabrication and relative light weight. 

The panels are exactly placed about the heightened thermal insulation of the floor. Besides, the panels feature the Signa façade system, which allows the specifically wanted brick expression building, brick without mortar and thin joints. Besides, it features a lower embodied energy due to the thin bricks and prevents the use of an visual structural member to support the brick layer. 

While the CU-building is being finished, as can be seen in detail 7, the Microlab will also face one of its last adaptions. The roof will be taken out to make place for the feature glass. 

The floors of the CU building will be finished to create its final look, make the floor, which features thin timber elements, fire proof and make the floor sound proof.

The last step is to complete the Microlab. The façade elements will be adapted and put back in place. The specific details about the adaptions in the façade can be found under the page Microlab.