THE LAST WORD
Moving beyond stick-built home construction—with “Hook & Build”
By Tony Kryzanowski
'm a born skeptic. When someone tells me they have invented a better, more affordable mousetrap, I always ask them to show me first. Then we’ll talk. So when I heard about an Alberta architect who had invented a building construction model based on the Ikea furniture fastening system, I thought it was a bit early for St Patrick’s Day and the traditional rubbing of the blarney stone. However, having now investigated the trademarked Hook & Build building system, my spider sense tells me that inventor Wolf Wilbert may have actually discovered what will usher in the next evolutionary phase of wood building construction in North America.
What makes me want to step out on a limb? The simplicity of the system, backed by the
scientific evidence from tests conducted at both the University of Alberta and the University of BC, is what leads me to believe that on-site, stick-built construction will soon face some very
stiff competition from the shell housing concept that Wilbert has developed. Furthermore, the
structural strength of his concept and its versatility may be the competitive answer that the wood products industry has been looking for to really take a run at the nonresidential building
construction market.
What’s attractive about this system is that it delivers the building durability that is sometimes
lacking in stick-built construction while making sturdier building construction much more
affordable— without having to make the transition to a timber-built structure.
The foundation of this post and beam building system is an internationally patented fastening
system called the “Wolfhook,” which is similar to the concept used to assemble and provide the
strength inherent to Ikea furniture. To assemble a Hook & Build structure, the hammer is
replaced with a ratchet wrench. So far, 12 homes and commercial buildings have been
designed and constructed using the Hook & Build system and plans are in the works to roll out
the next phase of this system’s evolution through a major development in Western Canada.
It took 15 years for Wilbert to develop his original idea of a proven building system based on
the Ikea concept. He says Hook & Build offers advantages on a number of fronts: • the system
consumes about 30 per cent less wood; • it’s 40 per cent cheaper than buildings constructed
with solid timbers because it uses engineered wood products;
• it generates no on site construction waste;
• the system offers the same versatility as conventional stick-built construction; and
• it has strength—enough strength, in fact, to withstand a tumble down a hill without breaking
apart.
The steel fasteners are very similar in design, but vary in size depending on the weight of the
component they are supporting. They not only connect the post and beam components, but
also lock them into place, thus giving the structure its strength.
Two companies, Western Archrib in Edmonton and Structurlam Inc in Penticton, already have
experience manufacturing both the glulam and fastener components.
To fully understand the Hook & Build system, picture the human body. It consists of a strong
skeletal structure surrounded by an outer skin. That is essentially how this system works. The
fastened glulam beams are the skeleton and the outer skin can be either prefabricated
components or stick-built.
The attraction for builders is that once the structure and outer shell are in place, they can offer
building owners a wider variety of interior design concepts because there are no load bearing
walls. I’ve heard from many experts that stick-built construction is losing its cost
competitiveness because of the high cost of labour, as well as the amount of building material
waste that is generated. That’s where the Hook & Build system really excels.
Paul Knettig recently used the Hook & Build system to construct a three-storey, 4,500-squarefoot home on a steep hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean in an earthquake zone just outside Comox, BC. It took a framing crew, equipped with only ratchet wrenches, five days to erect the glulam structure and another four days to install the prefabricated envelope and roof.
The Hook & Build system also suits the do-it-yourselfer. It took Peter Johner and three friends
two days to erect the glulam structure for a 1.5 storey, 2,500- square-foot, Swiss chalet-style
home near Spruce Grove, Alberta. The envelope also consisted of prefabricated panels. This
system was also used to construct a dome style home near Grande Prairie, Alberta.
While the Hook & Build system is exciting, what worries me is that the forest industry will spend too much time fiddling while stick-built Rome burns, thus letting this opportunity pass by. The Hook & Build system has proven itself in wood structures, but the Wolfhook fastener works equally well with precast, fibreglass, solid timbers, plastics and metals.
I would strongly suggest that anyone involved in the forest products industry pick up Wilbert’s
new book, Unwrapping the Hook & Build Building System. It offers detailed illustrations and
descriptions of how the system works. In my view, it may be the most important book
concerning the future of the wood building construction industry in North America that you will
read in the next 10 years.
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Those of us interested in LEED were excited last year when the USBGC launched its LEED-H certification for homes. Minnesota currently has about five houses in the process of being certified under this new LEED-H program. One of these is being built in Minneapolis by the design/build firm III AD. This house, being certified in the Gold category, helps shed the old “Earth Shoe” image of environmentally responsible building. See how architect Jonathan Query articulates his "warm modernist" vision in the context of this emerging sustainable vocabulary, at www.3-ad.com.
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