The Housing Fair in Finland has always been a showcase for new developments and trends in the field of construction. Also the new ventilation solutions have been introduced to the builders and renovators in the course of history of the Housing Fair.
The Housing Fair has been organized since 1970 in different Finnish cities, and the goal has always been to increase the awareness of new housing solutions and improve the planning and construction of dwellings. The buildings in the fair have always offered examples of modern construction and housing solutions, and although no documentation has been preserved, even the ventilation solutions have probably been presented since Valmet-time. In any case, the Housing Fair held in Turku in 1988 was a significant event for Vallox, which by MBO had become an independent company in the previous year.
“We decided to locate our products in other than detached houses only,” says Olavi Suominen, one of the four owners at the time. The small apartment building in the exhibition area, As Oy Juhananhovi, became indeed the first apartment building with apartment-specific supply and exhaust ventilation implemented with Vallox MUH Ilmava units.
Showcase and test site Juhananhovi
In addition to showcasing Vallox and apartment-specific ventilation, the building served also a test site. Namely, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in cooperation with Vallox conducted a one-year follow-up study on the operation of ventilation as part of the national buildings research program. The study investigated whether apartment-specific ventilation can be applied to apartment buildings. And as we now know, the results were good – or even excellent.
“In addition to saving energy, the residents were also pleased because they were able to adjust the ventilation of their own homes,” Suominen continues. Today, about half of the new apartment buildings in Finland are equipped with apartment-specific ventilation!
In addition to Juhananhovi, Vallox products were presented at the Turku Housing Fair in as many as 17 houses. Since Turku fair, Vallox products have always been displayed in the Housing Fair venues, although in the recent years the building services engineering has not interested the public as much as the interior design solutions. Nevertheless, the Housing Fair has been an interesting destination for e.g. German resellers and customers of Vallox, since Finland can be called a pioneer in ventilation solutions.
Clean indoor air as the starting point in Lohja Housing Fair
At this year’s Housing Fair in Lohja Hiidensalmi area, Vallox ventilation can be found in e.g. House Sensu and Lammi-Kivitalo’s Lohja Saarenta.
In House Sensu, the starting point was to have a house with clean indoor air. The builders, Tomi and Saara Norrby tell that all the solutions were considered against that point because Saara suffers from asthma and reacts very easily to impurities in indoor air after being exposed to mould.
“In addition to building materials, attention was paid e.g. to structural joints. They were made so well and so tightly that no fibers can penetrate into the indoor air. We also chose not to have the upper cabinets in the kitchen to avoid dust that easily accumulates on the upper levels,” says Tomi Norrby. “The risks have been minimized as the house is built of concrete elements and stone wool insulation, which resists mould growth.”
A good HVAC designer is worth of gold
The Norrbys praise the HVAC designer they had. “We discussed a lot of indoor air quality with him. For example, we didn’t want a heat pump because Saara has reacted easily in the vicinity of those. Therefore our HVAC designer Teemu Eeva suggested to have floor cooling. And even though its implementation was quite challenging, we are really pleased with the way the heating and cooling of our house was solved as a whole,” Tomi Norrby continues.
Vallox 145 MV was chosen to ventilate the house. According to the Norrbys, the main reasons were the large filter surface area of the unit and Vallox MLV Multi duct radiator, which is compatible with floor cooling. In this house, the purpose of the MLV duct radiator is above all to remove moisture from the supply air even before it enters the house. “This idea came from our HVAC designer. Naturally also the designer’s good experiences with Vallox helped us in the decision making,” says Tomi Norrby.
There was also another important factor in the design of the house. The Norrbys wanted the Japanese culture, the Zen spirit, to be visible in the house. “In terms of ventilation, this meant we were very demanding in the visual details and required a lot from e.g. ventilation valves. Fortunately, we found the black valves we wanted from Finnish company Climecon,” tells the Norrby family.
As the harmony of interior design was the leading idea, no compromises were made. The ventilation unit and its control panel were placed in the technical room of the house. The fact that MyVallox Control panel was available only in white was a little disappointment at first, but now Tomi and Saara are happy that Vallox 145 MV can easily be controlled via the cost-free cloud service. “As an added benefit, the data on the indoor air at our home is constantly collected to the cloud service,” Tomi mentions.
The Norrbys are visibly happy and pleased with the outcome of their construction project. “Because we didn’t select the prefabricated house, we were able to make all the choices ourselves. It took time, but on the other hand, we did not have to compromise on any point. After all, I have to say that this house is fabulous and it comes even with a wonderful landscape!” Tomi Norrby says looking over to the lake.
House Sensu and Lohja Saarenta can also be followed on Instagram:
http://instagram.com/talo_sensu
https://www.instagram.com/lohjansaarenta/