THE PROJECT
Haus Gables is a residential, single-family home designed by Atlanta and Boston-based architect, Jennifer Bonner / MALL. The project was completed on a 24-foot-wide plot of land in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, just a few steps away from the Atlanta Beltline. The 2,200 square-foot home, which Bonner has affectionately named Haus Gables, has an exaggerated gabled roof structure consisting of a cluster of six gable roofs combined to form 87 unique panels that make up the exterior and interior walls, floors, and roof. It is one of a handful of houses built out of this type of construction in the United States.
Bonner, an Associate professor of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, has an interest in working with innovative materials such as Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels and therefore chose Kingspan’s high-performance Kingspan Kooltherm® K20 Concrete Sandwich Board as part of the wall assembly of Haus Gables. CLT is a prefabricated, durable and lightweight wood material that is produced by gluing stacked layers of lumber together in alternate directions to create one solid panel.
“In speaking to Jennifer Bonner about the Haus Gables project, I became very interested in her unique design and utilization of CLT,” said Craig Lynch, Commercial/ Technical Director, Kingspan Insulation North America. “It seemed that Kingspan Kooltherm® K20 high-performance continuous insulation was a logical fit for a project of this magnitude. Kooltherm® K20 boards with a glass tissue facer were chosen to help the home meet the desired levels of durability, thermal resistance, and fire performance. Kingspan Kooltherm® K20 is a premium performance insulation product that comprises a fiber-free rigid thermoset phenolic insulation core. It resists both moisture and water vapor ingress. The product has a class A ASTM E84 rating (flame-smoke) and an R-value of up to 14.5 per 2 inches, higher than any commonly used insulation.
Kooltherm® is the thinnest commonly used insulation product and is easy to install. When installed correctly, it can provide reliable long-term thermal performance over the lifetime of any building. The insulation core and facings used in the manufacture of Kooltherm® resist attack by mold and microbial growth and do not provide any food value to pests.
On the home’s exterior, synthetic stucco was used as a finish material and inscribed with a custom brick stamp. The faux-brick wraps the entire house and a series of faux finishes clad the interior. The project’s faux-finishing details are cost-efficient and bring a contemporary twist to the deeply rooted tradition of “faking it” found in southern architecture.
Project Name: Haus Gables
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA - Old Fourth Ward Neighborhood
Architecture & Interior Design: Residential
Architect: Jennifer Bonner
Products: Kingspan Kooltherm® K20 Concrete Sandwich Board
Kingspan Kooltherm® K20 Concrete Sandwich Board is high-performance insulation for precast/concrete walls. It has a rigid, fiber-free thermoset phenolic insulant with zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and low Global Warming Potential (GWP).
