Wood is the concrete of the future. As timber construction becomes increasingly popular, you have probably heard this phrase. However, we are not talking about traditional construction techniques using timber, but rather about this well-known material combined with cutting-edge technology.
Mass timber is industrially processed to optimize its performance for construction. Usually, the wood passes through a selection process that excludes knots, cracks, and splits. It aligns the fibers and converts them into boards, sheets, or even micro-particles to facilitate the joining of the pieces.
After the composition process, the pieces can become pillars, beams, or structural panels, depending on their application. This results in different types of mass timber. The most commonly used ones in construction are CLT (cross-laminated timber) and Glulam (glue-laminated timber). CLT is a structural panel composed of at least three layers of stacked boards arranged perpendicular to the lower layer, glued on the wide face. It is used to build slabs and walls. Glulam is made up of laminated wood sheets glued to each other and arranged with fibers parallel to the longitudinal axis of the piece. It is mainly found in beams and pillars.
In practice, its assembly is much more agile and easier than traditional construction methods, which is one of the advantages of the system. Both panels and mass timber beams and pillars are manufactured off-site and transported to the worksite with all the details pre-defined to receive mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic installations, reducing construction time and minimizing errors and waste. With this technology, wooden buildings up to 20 floors can be built in 50% less time than traditional construction.
The combination of this construction technology with digital tools further enhances the efficiency of the process. The application of the BIM (Building Information Modeling) system allows the development of a VDC (Virtual Design and Construction), which is a virtual model that replicates the construction process, allowing construction to be studied and analyzed before starting in the real world.
However, as Pablo van der Lugt, a researcher studying the potential of materials such as bamboo and mass timber for the construction sector, affirmed, the advantages of this material are numerous and go beyond cost savings in construction. Constructions based on sustainably managed biological materials have double circularity as they can be built with dry, detachable connections that allow future reuse. Moreover, mass timber can serve as a tool to reduce building carbon footprint and has also been used to recover and develop ancestral construction traditions in different parts of the world, bringing to light a contemporary interpretation of a material present in vernacular architectures.
Countless projects serve as examples of the application of this material, from large buildings such as Mjøstårnet in Norway or Puukuokka Housing Block in Finland to small homes such as the Octothorpe House in the United States or the Bocaina-Paraty House in Brazil. In addition to these projects, we list here 50 CLT-built projects that stand out for their bold forms and distinct programs. A plurality of applications and a wide geographical difference further emphasize the growing use of engineered wood and its infinite construction possibilities.
