In the Norwegian town of Steinkjer, which in Old Norse means stone dam, the construction of a building made mainly out of wood is taking place. It is not an uncommon material for buildings in Norway. In fact, the use of wood for construction dates back to the Viking ancestors and beyond. What is remarkable about this construction is however, that it is a eight-storey and 9.300 sqm modern office building and that it will employ the latest technology with the aim to create an office space with a sustainable environmental profile and an ideal indoor climate for the people working there.

The owner, the municipality’s building company, Steinkjerbygg, has prioritized the design of the O2-house so that it not only will be built from sustainable material but will also deliver reduced energy consumption and a lower cost of ownership compared to similar sized office buildings.

One of the technologies which will contribute to this is MicroShade^®, which is the solar shading solution chosen for this project. MicroShade was known to Steinkjerbygg from research in relation to previous projects and now was the chance to use it in a building ideally suited for this technology.

Department manager at Steinkjerbygg, Olav Brauti explains: “We chose MicroShade® because we are confident that its properties will provide economic benefit over the lifetime of the building.”

Since MicroShade^® is a passive solution integrated in the glazing - it has no maintenance requirements other than the normal window cleaning. With regards to energy consumption - then need for cooling is reduced since 90% of the heat from the sun is reflected. This means that not only is less energy required - the ‘buffer’ in the cooling system can also be reduced and as such have an impact on installation costs too.

Espen Sund, project manager at FuglsangDahl adds: ”For us as the construction company on the project, the opportunity to simplify the construction process was very welcome. With e.g. external screens we often see challenges with not only with the installation itself but also with following corrections of functional errors. With MicroShade^® we avoid this as the shading solution is as easy to install as regular glazing and requires no calibration.”

The O2-house which has been named after the address (Ogndalsveien 2) is situated 120 km north of Trondheim, and construction is expected to be completed by July 2021.

Graphic: Norconsult