Sustainable and impressive
With a frontage made of over-100-year-old logs, the Metla House serves as a call for sustainable timber construction.
Built in 2004, the Metla House in Joensuu, eastern Finland, is the headquarters of the Finnish Forest Research Institute. As a reference building, the office building is intended to promote the use of wood as a sustainable building material and has quickly become an impressive tourist attraction.
In its construction, almost all 24 species of wood native to Finland were used: The end walls bordering the entrance are clad with reclaimed logs that are over 100 years old. To ensure that the appearance of the logs stays impressive for decades to come, they were treated with the microporous Osmo Holzschutz Öl-Lasur. The bespoke colour for the log cladding was created by mixing the colour shades 701 Clear Matt, 702 Larch and 710 Stone Pine.
Wood must be able to breathe in order to remain beautiful in the long term. Therefore, only coating systems should be used that are microporous – like those from Osmo. Whether opaque Landhausfarbe or a transparent coloured wood stain - all of these coatings are based on natural oils that protect the wood while allowing the natural moisture exchange. Another advantage: breathable wood coatings, unlike varnishes, will not crack or peel.
FURTHER IMPRESSIONS
