Timber Structures for Small Public Building: Munsan-eup Community Center
bold architects
written by
Shin Sungjin, Son Kyungmin
photographed by
Kyungsub Shin
materials provided by
bold architects
edited by
Han Garam
SPACE August 2022 (No. 657)
Timber Structures for Small Public Building: Madang, Wood, Roof
Munsan-eup Community Center in Jinju, located at the main entrance to the Munsan-eup Office, is accessible thanks to a junction close to the site. Initially, this project was announced as part of a design competition to invite proposals for a timber structure building that would provide shelter and autonomous programmes for residents. A timber structure was also the will of Jinju City and the master planner, who wanted to make the city a new leader in wood construction in line with the more general raised awareness of carbon-neutral design. After winning the competition, Canada Wood was appointed as the supporter at the design stage. The terms of the competition required them to apply a NLT (Nail Laminated Timber) structure to the project. Accordingly, the original plan of a heavy timber structure, an exposed truss structure, was altered to a NLT structure. The change of structure incurred not only a change of method, but also exposed characteristics of the structural method and transformed the atmosphere of the space. Finally, instead of the truss, only the wooden roof plate remained, creating a more concise space.
A Lost Madang and a New Madang
A big tree stands alone in the centre of the parking lot in front of the Munsan-eup Office. The madang (courtyard) is covered with asphalt for parking, leaving only minimum area around the tree as natural ground for keeping growth. In the past, this place may have been the central square where people could sit and share their daily life with others, taking a rest in the leafy shade of a tree on the way to and from adjacent villages. But when we first visited the site, it was filled with the cars of civil petitioners leaving little space for pedestrians.
We wanted to restore the central space in the village to a gathering place for residents under the leafy tree. First, we rearranged the chaotic parking lines to create a pedestrian-only space. Then, we installed a large roof plate to create shelter from the sun and rain. The ground of the new madang runs parallel with the roof. The roof structure continued into the building and, the wide-open front window blurring inside and outside of the building, expands to enable the building and the madang to be used as one space.
NLT: From Line Element to Surface Element
Heavy timber structures, one of several timber structures, creates a space through linear elements such as columns, beams, rafters, and trusses, after which walls and roofs are added. On the other hand, NLT creates a space with surface elements rather than linear elements, using the structure as flooring, the wall, and roof. NLT stands for ‘Nail Laminated Timber’, a panel type material of timber planks attached in a continuous line with nails. NLTs are prefabricated in a factory and assembled on site.
The timber is produced to meet the optimised unit and length for logging, processing, and efficient drying and transportation. For this reason, the size of a space is determined by the choice of timber, and joint details to use multiple elements together are developed to create a space larger than the capacity of timbers. The processing of timbers from natural materials to industrial ones is also an extension of the materiality of wood.
NLT is made of timber, but as described above, it is a structural material made up of lumps of wood rather than square timber. As each piece of wood can be easily attached and removed even when assembling a panel, it can be flexibly expanded or warped to satisfy the site conditions. In addition, structural engineered wood such as glulam (glued laminated timber) and CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) use adhesives to achieve stiffness, but NLT uses nails to join timbers, leaving the natural texture of wood on the surface without a smoothing process. Munsan-eup Community Center leaves the unique properties of NLT to be exposed in the space. The long span of the space is completed with only wooden boards without beams, thanks to the structural function of NLT, and the natural patterns of wood panels have been exposed on the roof eaves and throughout the interior spaces.
Three Types of Wooden Roof
For the wooden roof, we selected three NLT panel types by combining structural timbers of 2×4, 2×6, and 2×8inch commonly known as ‘two-by’ and completed the space by developing three different slopes on the roof. The gentlest eave of the building is used in a single slope roof parallel to courtyard. We intended to make this roof panel appear as if it was floating above the ground. The size of roof-supporting columns was reduced by using round steel pipes and by contrasting them with wood, the main material, in terms of material and colouring, which leaves only the structure of the roof. In addition, aligning the flow of energy acting on the roof with the direction of expansion of the inside and outside spaces draws the outside into the inside. On the other hand, the two slope roofs of different widths form some volumes and atmospheres to satisfy various uses for the interior space. Space can be created through simple methods such as exposing structural material NLT as interior finishings, installing line lighting between timbers, and emptying NLT partially to create a skylight.
It is important to propose spaces suited to practical and specific uses by approaching them at a village scale in small-scale public buildings. Timber structures, of natural materials that are culturally and emotionally familiar to us, are appropriate for creating such spaces as they can lower psychological barriers to public buildings. The Munsan-eup Community Center began with the intention of creating a new place for the villagers. The process of designing a building using a familiar material but an unfamiliar structure can be realised through extremely architectural and delicate considerations. We hope that this new ‘timber structure for small public building’ will give rise to positive vibes in the village.
Architect
bold architects (Shin Sungjin, Son Kyungmin)
Design team
Park Sungki, Kim Hyeongmin
Location
12, Dongbu-ro 587beon-gil, Munsan-eup, Jinju-si, G
Programme
neighbourhood living facility
Site area
3,891㎡ (office and community center)
Building area
208.88㎡
Gross floor area
208.88㎡
Building scope
1F
Parking
35
Height
4.82m
Building to land ratio
28.81% (office and community center)
Floor area ratio
45.66% (office and community center)
Structure
NLT (Nail Laminated Timber) wood structure
Exterior finishing
zinc, wood siding
Interior finishing
NLT, plywood
Structural engineer
HausTEC (David Joo)
Mechanical and electrical engineer
Taeyoung EMC
Construction
Pyeong Won Consturction, NEEDTEC (timber structure
Design period
May 2020 – Jan. 2021
Construction period
Jan. – Sep. 2021
Cost
700 million KRW
Client
Jinju City
Shin Sungjin, Son Kyungmin
Shin Sungjin and Son Kyungmin co-operate the bold architects. After graduating from University of Seoul, they worked together at O.C.A. The four Houses for Brothers & Sisters, Zipzipmadang won Seoul Architecture Award and Korean Architecture Award and Munsan-eup Community Center in Jinju won the Korea Wood Design Awards. They are working on projects such as Dream playstructure, Ulleung Elementary school and Bongdam Wauri Complex Cultural library.
