Case study. FlexiBox - Flexible timber test cells for outdoor testing of building components and of envelop solutions

The aim of this paper is to present design and assembly procedures to construct a flexible timber test cell - FlexiBox for outdoor testing of building components. Two test cells were developed within the TimBEESt project founded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-Bozen in Italy. Fraunhofer Italia Research designed and realized two test cells in order to measure the thermal performance of timber building components in real climate conditions. The design concept is based on paradigms like flexibility, modularity and prefabrication. The flexibility allows to create an interchangeable envelope of the test cell by using movable panels, without worsening the structural proprieties of the test cell, when panels are changed multiple times. Test cells were installed near Bolzano city and they were used during a monitoring campaign in the summer 2015.