Lohja Housing Fair 2021: House Sensu
The starting point for House Sensu, built in Hiidensalmi in Lohja for the Housing Fair 2021, was clean indoor air.
Tomi and Saara Norrby, who assigned the construction of the House Sensu, say that all solutions were built on this starting point, because Saara is asthmatic and became extremely sensitive to impurities in the indoor air after she was exposed to indoor air problems at her work.
“The starting point is not only visible in the building material choices, but also, e.g., in the fact that attention was paid to structural joints. Joints are so well made and tight that no fibres can get into the indoor air through them. We also left out the top cabinets in the kitchen because dust easily gathers on the uppermost shelves. “In terms of humidity control technology, risks have been minimised, because the house is made of precast concrete sandwich panels”, says Tomi Norrby.
Ventilation solutions in collaboration with a HVAC designer
Norrbys also praise their HVAC designer. “We discussed indoor air matters with him a great deal. For example, we did not want to have an air source heat pump, because Saara reacts easily in their vicinity. For this reason, our designer Teemu Eeva suggested floor cooling, even though it is quite a lot more challenging to implement. We are incredibly pleased with the overall solution of our house’s heating and cooling system”, says Norrby.
Vallox 145 MV was selected as the ventilation unit for House Sensu. As the main reasons for their choice, the Norrbys list the extensive filter area of the unit and the Vallox MLV duct radiator, which is compatible with the floor cooling system.
In this house, the MLV duct radiator is used to supplement the floor cooling especially to remove humidity from the supply air before it is blown indoors. “This idea was suggested by our HVAC designer and, naturally, his good experiences of Vallox also contributed to the selection”, says Tomi Norrby.
The ventilation of House Sensu is controlled via a cloud service
Another important theme in the design of the house was, from the very beginning, the presence of the Japanese Zen spirit in the house. “In terms of ventilation, this means that we were demanding customers and wanted the ventilation valves to be exactly of a certain look. Luckily, we were able to find the black valves that we wanted from Climecon, a Finnish company. Their operation has been developed so that unlike with most models, no dust should gather around the supply air valves. This is also excellent because our ceiling is made of heat treated batten panels that would be difficult to clean”, say Norrbys.
Because the harmony of the interior decor was one of the leading themes of the design, no compromises were made regarding it. Instead, the ventilation unit and its control panel were located in the technical space of the house. The fact that the control panel was only available in white was a minor disappointment at first, but now Tomi and Saara are pleased that the Vallox 145 MV unit can be controlled easily through a free cloud service. “As an additional benefit, data is gathered constantly of the indoor air of the home in the cloud service”, says Tomi.
The Norrbys are clearly pleased and satisfied with the result of their construction project. “Because we did not purchase a turn-key package, we were able to make all the choices ourselves. It took plenty of time but, on the other hand, there was no need to compromise on anything at any point. And isn’t this such a lovely house with an amazing view!”, say Tomi Norrby looking out towards Lake Lohjanjärvi.
