Structural Timber Innovation Company Headquarters

STIC and EXPAN

EXPAN is the brand created by STIC, a research group comprising of university and industry experts, to market the products they develop.

Structural Timber Innovation Company Headquarters

What better way to showcase their products, than to house their headquarters inside a building built with them.

Originally developed as a protoype for testing, the EXPAN building now settled on the grounds of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, is a stunning testament to what can be done simply and effectively using EXPAN Structural Timber Solutions.

At only 2/3 scale, some adjustment had to be made to take the building out of the lab and into the real world, where it now acts as an office for Structural Timber Innovation Company and has become a showcase that is attracting engineeers, architects, owners and developers.

Designed by leading local architect Thom Craig, from the test building that had been put through the ringer in the university testing facilities, the finished bulding is at once simple and spacious, with the construction proudly on display for all to see. As if to prove itself wholly, it withstood the force of the major earthquake on 22 February 2011, with no damage to the structure or linings. The building is also continuing in a research capacity, wired up to measure the onging effects of earthquakes and aftershocks.

Computerisation and emerging technologies coupled with creative innovation has helped to position timber as an important player in the structural, cladding and decorative markets.

The Laminated Veneer Lumber components were processed by Carter Holt Harvey at Marsden Point and Nelson Pine Industries in Nelson. These prefabricated panels, beams and columns are threaded through horizantally and vertically with pre-stressed steel cables, anchored top to bottom and side to side. These steel "tendons" tension the whole structure, absorbing energy during the severe rocking of an earthquake and pulling it back into place after the earthquake stops.

The concept of pre-stressed steel tendons is reminiscent of Greek and Roman temples. Between each segment of the temple pillars were lug holes where shear keys made of lead were placed to absorb energy and provide a pivot point on which the column could re-centre itself after an earthquake.