The H7, designed by Andreas Heupel Architects, is a sustainable seven-storey office building in a pioneering timber-hybrid design in Münster's harbour district. In 2016, at the time of its completion, it was the tallest timber hybrid building in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its main investor and tenant was a regional organic retail chain, who wanted to demonstrate the qualities of natural materials.

Arup was commissioned for structures, building physics and acoustics and helped tackle building permit issues as part of the process.

Sustainability is at the heart of the building's design. At the time of construction, however, the building regulations in North Rhine-Westphalia stipulated a maximum of three storeys for timber buildings. Based on our research for the 20-storey Lifecycle Tower, which has already been built as an eight-storey building in Dornbirn, Austria, we were able to prove the feasibility and safety of the timber hybrid building and obtain the necessary building permits.

Designing with timber

The underground car park, the ground floor and the core of H7 are made of conventional reinforced concrete. In addition, a concrete 'backbone' feartures the main service distribution. On all other floors timber-concrete-composite floors are used. The columns along the façade are made of glulam.

Significant carbon savings

By replacing or supplementing concrete with timber, approximately one tonne of carbon dioxide per cubic metre of timber was saved during production. In addition, the timber stores another tonne of carbon dioxide per cubic metre. In total, the use of timber saved around 626 tonnes of carbon compared to conventional reinforced concrete structures.

The underground car park, the ground floor and the core of H7 are made of conventional reinforced concrete. On all other floors timber-concrete-composite floors are used. © Andreas Heupel Architekten BDA

The timber hybrid construction of the H7 can be seen in the interior