Year: 2004-2010

Location: Melta di Gardolo - Trento - Italy

Country: Italy

Volume: 40’000 m3

Owner Builder: Obiettivo Prima Casa - Trento

Contractor: Consorzio Lavoro Ambiente - Trento with C.B. scarl

Designer: arch. Lanfranco Fietta, ing. Michele Groff - Structures: ing. Roberto Boller - I.C. srl and ing. Michele Groff - Arca Engineering

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Problem / Solution

Housing project with high thermal and acoustic performances near Trento. The complex consists of five buildings (93 flats) with high energy savings and low environmental impact for a total of 40,000 m³. External walls are composed of expanded clay blocks with ETICS System for high thermal insulation. Importance is given not only to thermal insulation but also to acoustics in facades. This kind of expanded clay block has been chosen here for the sound reduction performance (30 cm has Rw = 56.9 dB) and then assembled with ETICS for thermal insulation. Also party walls between apartments are in expanded clay blocks for sound reduction (30 cm, Rw = 56.9 dB). At basement level, in the car park, internal partitions are made with a special type of block in expanded clay, interlocking on all four sides, with high fire resistance capability. Only 8 cm thick, the wall has a fire resistance of 120 minutes without finishes.

Experience

Acoustic performance in facades and party walls, high thermal resistance, “inertia” or thermal mass, fire resistance, ease of assembly, durability.

Why expanded clay?

High thermal, acoustic and fire resistance performance of expanded clay blocks are the main reasons for the choice. Expanded clay blocks are used for external and party walls because of their high thermal performance and sound reduction. In 30 cm thick, this kind of block has a laboratory tested sound reduction of Rw = 56.9 dB, and has a reliable soundproofing that fully meets regulatory requirements. For thermal insulation, expanded clay block walls are used in conjunction with an ETICS System to reduce energy consumption of the building. 8 cm thick blocks are used in the car park for fire resistance reasons: without a finish that kind of block reaches 120 minutes of fire resistance. Moreover, the interlocking system on all four sizes and the light weight block help to speed up the installation making it easy and fast.