Renovation of a sports hall with blow-in-straw technique
The municipality of Tilburg was very pleased to be invited by the National Straw Building Association of the Netherlands (SBN) to join an international project to pilot the use of straw in the renovation of an urban building.
In the past Tilburg had developed a tool to evaluate procurement that would achieve a combination of ’energy, environment, health, quality, future use’. With this tool, the focus shifts from ’lowest price’ towards other aspects and can thereby gain higher results in sustainability. During the initial phase of UP STRAW, Tilburg was already progressing their own roadmap towards sustainable asset management. In this context, the municipality of Tilburg quickly became a strong and proactive partner in UP STRAW.
Renovating with straw to improve insulation
Tilburg and SBN evaluated different buildings where the use of straw could be combined with a planned mid-life upgrade. The Roomley Sports Hall in Udenhout appeared to be a good option for a pilot renovation with straw. A sports hall or gym is an exemplary building: in the Netherlands you can find hundreds of this kind of building. Many were constructed in the 1970s and ‘80s, with very limited insulation. They are used all year round, with high heating costs in the winter and hot indoor climate during the summer.
Project evolution
The first idea for the renovation was wrapping the existing building with straw to create an indoor climate that would be comfortable, with low energy usage for heating and cooling. However, during the first evaluation, it became clear that a significant upgrade of the envelope of the building alone would not be realistic for a building more than 40 years old. There should be more than only an extra skin of straw since all the interior and installations were in need of a mid-life upgrade.
The renovation plan evolved into a project where only the two sport-halls would be kept. All the other parts of the building would be removed and a new extension made at one side of the remaining halls. With this plan a more compact building would be created wherein the existing halls are wrapped with straw and the new extension has an elevation of straw.
Combination
With this plan for the renovation of The Roomley Sport Hall, there are two different uses of straw: the existing parts wrapped with straw and the new extension closed with straw. The combination of 2 basic areas for the use of straw was inspirational in the search for applications where new-build and renovation provide a good match.
Learning from the past
Finding solutions that could support the design process for the new straw walls of Roomley we looked at several exemplary straw projects from the recent past.
• Germany: existing building covered with strawbales fixed with special supports.
• France: existing steel structure closed with elements filled with straw.
• France: new building made of CLT insulated with elements filled with straw.
• Swiss: existing office wrapped with building-high elements of straw.
• United Kingdom: new concrete structure wrapped by building high panels with straw.
• Austria: strawbales made at the right size to fit the construction or straw cut into small particles that are blown inside the cavity of a construction.
Tilburg chose blown-in straw
Read the full article on https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/up-straw-urban-and-public-buildings-in-straw/action-activity/yearbook-2019-roomley-sports-hall/