Het Houtblad interviewed Robert Winkel and Robert Platje about the wooden facade in the courtyard of Fenix I; a beautiful aspect of the building that definitely deserves some attention. Especially the fire retardancy was challenging, according to Platje: “The galeries are escape routes, which meant that the wood had to meet fire class C. After the big fire in the Grenfell Tower (London), the requirements in that class became more strict. It required some improvisation talent and craftsmanship.”
The future building SAWA, which is already known as Formula 1 in timber construction, takes wood building one step further. No other building of these dimensions with so much wood has yet been realized in the Netherlands. Creative solutions need to be found for issues like stability, shrinkage behavior and noise reduction. The aim is to start construction in 2021.