Naturally, evolved.

CLT is not a new technology. It was created more than 20 years ago and has been used ever since as a solid building material. But Arolla’s CLT is nothing short of revolutionary, for it was designed to be placed without any external cladding, allowing for a single element to be used as both the interior and exterior of a home or building. A truly monolithic solution, made possible by perfectly compiled and sanded Arolla CLT panels, single-handedly replacing a multitude of materials.

This is only possible because our distinctively thick CLT panels have been perfectly sanded, pressed and glued together, leaving neither gaps nor rough edges, which not only gives it a particularly uniform appearance, but also ensures that there is no need to hide it with further cladding, paint, or other surface finishing.

Our CLT panels are also intentionally narrower than the market standard (often up to 3.5 m high by 1.6 m wide), which results in superior quality across the entire panel surface, even for larger walls, whilst giving the system a greater flexibility in terms of design and allowing for intricate and complex design features. All of this is achieved whilst creating limited waste — as panels are custom made for each project, liberating us from the limitations of wood modular solutions and prefab designs and buildings.

All in all, Arolla offers a next generation CLT which delivers the strength, flexibility, and longevity for which CLT is already known - but, upgraded to a perfectly finished, smaller than standard panel. This allows architects to strip away almost every other material used in traditional buildings today, without compromising ideas or designs. A minimalist approach to material use that still allows for cutting edge architecture — and moreover, in complete harmony with nature and the environment.

Naturally, sustainable

Having narrower CLT panels also results in less material waste, for they are more easily adapted to specific designs — and provide a faster production process (as they are easier to handle by crane, machine or transport), whilst still allowing for multi-storey construction. This allows an Arolla home or building to cause a minimal carbon footprint compared to virtually all other construction options, actively contributing to a healthier living environment and, effectively, allowing us to create spaces that can last up to 200 years.

To these benefits, Arolla adds the CO2 savings from the sustainable sourcing of wood and forest management, the reduced building time (about three months vs the industry standard of one to two years), the faster production process and the drastic reduction of other natural resources usage, like water. Arolla also delivers a 50% decrease on energy consumption for cooling and heating of the finished structure— an area that is responsible for 40% of the total energy costs, in a country like Portugal — because of the optimised thermal behaviour of Arolla´s unique building processes.

But ultimately, it is the -1:2 CO2 ratio of CLT vs concrete that gives an Arolla home or building its minimal carbon footprint, when compared with all other construction options available, thus making good on our spaces without traces promise.  

Naturally, designed.

Solid wood is a highly complex natural creation, structurally stable and thermally adaptable to every environment, due to the fact that it breathes whilst providing perfect insulation.  

A breathing, living material that has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than most other elements (like concrete or steel) and is able to withstand high vertical pressure loads, therefore displaying a higher stability during seismic activity without additional load bearing structures.

The key feature of natural, solid wood, however, is that it is hygroscopic — that is, , it absorbs and releases moisture to balance its internal content with the surrounding environment.  Moisture can otherwise cause wood to significantly shrink and swell - a behaviour that, whilst it does not detract from its benefits, it´s not what you would expect from, let’s say, a wall.

And then the innovative Arolla CLT engineering steps in: by thoroughly drying each slat to a 12% humidity level and then pressing and crossing the layers at 90 degrees, we are able to ensure that the wood can continue to breathe, just as it does in nature, but without any significant changes in volume — for when a slat expands in one direction, the cross layer ensure it stays in shape by creating an opposing force and, therefore, keeping everything in place.

All of this means that, whilst guaranteeing zero permeability as well as excellent thermal and acoustic insulation, Arolla’s distinctively thick CLT walls contribute to maintaining the building’s temperature regardless of the time of year or type of climate, so that heating and cooling essentially do not require much (if any) external power at all. An Arolla building works like a natural climate system.

This also means that, contrary to popular belief, Arolla CLT panels offer much better fire protection, due to a capsule effect that is gas and smoke tight: fire struggles to penetrate to the core of our panels and develops much more slowly. . These protections mean that, should an accident occur, whilst the surfaces would char, the building would remain structurally sound for much longer than a traditional building (which, in turn, means that the fire is less likely to travel to other rooms, permitting more time to escape, whilst allowing fire services to enter the building and extinguish the flames, long after the fire has started).

Arolla CLT panels meet all the statutory requirements for fire protection, air tightness, breathability of building material and structural stability for interior and exterior surfaces, as required in Portugal and throughout the EU.