Multistory Timber Apartment Buildings are Becoming Common in Forested Finland Results of Resident Surveys Point the Way to the Future of Multistory Timber Apartment Buildings

DOI: 10.5176/2301-394X_ACE17.23

Authors: Markku Karjalainen

Abstract:

Finland is one of Europe’s most heavily forested countries. As the significance of worldwide climate, environmental, and natural resource issues grows, Finland is seeking to further increase timber construction. Multistory apartment buildings offer the largest possibilities for growth in timber construction. The goal of Finland’s Ministry of the Environment is to take the carbon footprint of buildings into consideration in building regulations by the mid-2020s. In this respect, wood—as a domestic, local, renewable, environmentally friendly energy source and construction material—will be an increasingly competitive raw material. Three- to eight-story timber apartment buildings have become very common in Finland and their market share has grown fivefold during the last 20 years. Feedback from surveys of multistory timber apartment building residents and developers is used to measure end user satisfaction and at the same time obtain valuable information to support the design of new multistory timber apartment buildings. Tampere University of Technology is currently conducting a broad survey of residents and developers of Finland’s newest multistory timber apartment buildings; the results will be available in April 2017.

Keywords: Multistory timber apartment building; wood architecture; timber construction; carbon footprint; resident survey