German architectural firm Auer Weber designed the roof structure for the new indoor swimming pool at the Sports Centre Cents in Luxembourg. The ceiling was built using extremely long wooden elements, extending up to 23.75 metres. This enabled the long-spans and the attractive design of the roof. The key for making this possible was using fast, light and green Kerto LVL (laminated veneer lumber) products produced by Metsä Wood.
The suspended floating wooden ceiling was structured with slim ribs and an above average web height. The structural design and calculations were done by Knippers Helbig engineers and the implementation was carried out by the wood construction company Holzbau Amann. Use of Metsä Wood’s Kerto® LVL Q-panels made the desired roof appearance and the structure possible.
The dimensions of the roof are impressive. The goal of the architecture was to create a wooden rib ceiling with deep cassettes with long spans to create the large spatial volume. The dimensional stability of the Kerto LVL web was a great advantage here. The structure was produced using the Kerto LVL web with a height of 1.1 metres and a thickness of only 75 millimetres.
Hendrik Pfeffinger, the project manager at Holzbau Amann, explains “We went beyond standards for the ratio of thickness and the height of the beams, so special solutions had to be established which would on the one hand meet the requirements of Knippers Helbig, while conforming to the structural analyses and approvals in Luxembourg.” For the implementation of these slim dimensions, the Q-panels were virtually predestined for the job thanks to their high load-bearing capacity.
The wooden roof elements were prefabricated at Holzbau Amann’s factory and delivered by extra-long trucks to the construction site. Although the elements are almost 24 metres in length, their installation was quick and required only two carpenters on site. The end faces were finished off with end panels to finalise the appearance of the roof.
