Mass Timber appears to be taking off as an accepted, no, preferred method of construction in the modern world. Europe is ripe with projects in the pipelines and suppliers struggling to keep up with demand. Australia and New Zealand are building their own production plants and moving forward with a number of firms eager to build smarter. North America is saturated with weekly announcements of new production facilities opening, design firms starting up, and massive projects being undertaken. 

For many groups previously involved in the industry this is everything we could hope for and more. Finally getting to play with the big teams in construction and show them what we can really do. Seeing our value being incorporated into the folds of society. The current Tallest Mass Timber building in the world, UBC Brock Commons demonstrated not only how Mass Timber can be smarter, but also how it can be produced costs effectively and pair with modern manufacturing techniques. Since that point the flood gates have opening and many design and construction teams are considering joining in on this bright future. However, this key turning point doesn't come without concerns or uncertainty of where the future may take us. 

UBC Brock Commons - Post & Platform CLT, Photo by Seagate Structures

The questions that immediately come to my mind currently relate to fibre supplies, design skills to implement, lofty expectations and upcoming fire codes. Let's start with a small discussion on each of these issues over the next few blog posts:

Fibre supply for Mass Timber carries inherent concerns. Can we grow enough tress in a sustainable manner to produce all of the projects we have developing? At current market size, this is a no brainer and not much of an issue at all, however if Mass Timber starts to take up, 5, 10, 15, 30% of the market place for new construction, will sustainable forestry practices be able to meet demand? The answer remains to be seen, however, I believe as we integrate Mass Timber further into our everyday lives we will see society put more value on timber lands, not only for their fibre value, but also for their intrinsic ecological value. Building with Mass Timber creates a link back to the natural world that will hopefully help humanity through the next centuries. 

I am getting side tracked here, but the point I am slowly digging at is that as we value forest ecology further as both a wild land and sustainable crop for harvest we will hopefully see better utilization of fibre and longer lasting products of intrinsic wealth being built out of them. The average lifespan of a single family dwelling in the US is 40 years! That is absolutely pathetic. However, with Mass Timber buildings being created my hopes are that this higher value, massive product will have more thought put into it, and withstand the tests of time better, aiming for 200 year or why not 400 year lifespans? If this does become the new norm, we can expect that fibre supply, in the long distant term will level out to a sustainable development rate. 

Looking at the 18 story UBC Brock Commons project, it used roughly 2000 m^3 of CLT and 220 m^3 of glulam. This roughly amounts to 15,000 trees, and all of this lumber took Canadian forests roughly 5 mins to grow. In another lens this would require 3 - 4 acres of land set aside for 40 years to grow enough timber to house 404 students. To me, that comes out as a sustainable practice, that signals long term for thought and intensity of purpose.    
​VIDEO LINK TO UBC BROCK COMMONS

Mass Timber buildings will continue to be economically viable in a number of situations for those who know how to build efficiently, my worries are that a number of first time evaluators will be starting to review Mass Timber options based on currently high fibre prices. These early onset team may not be able to make their project work due to difficult or poor design implementation and then move back to steel or concrete without giving this revolutionary construction system the proper critique or time it deserves. 

Europe has currently remained relatively within its own fibre costs bubble, however the demands of the US housing market will slowly reach their shores and we will see upticks in the costs of fibre across the board. Next spring we will likely see lumber prices come back down to reality, however we are currently riding a record breaking high, so what will the new reality set at, and will Mass Timber still be seen as an economically logical means of construction? 

Nasdaq Lumber Price - 10 year high (Nov 6th 2017)

Construction teams I have been working with recently have gone to no end in scrutinizing costs and calling for five or more rounds of repricing, comparing both steel and concrete alternatives, so far at the end of the day these price points have still worked for the projects we have evaluated and they have persisted with their Mass Timber design. 

I believe the Timber Revolution will make it through these challenges, and maybe these are the break pads necessary to ensure we stay within the bounds of logic and sustainability. How do you see fibre supply determining the future of Mass Timber? ​

PS. Look forward to hearing more about some of these large scale revolutionary projects that have entered the Mass Timber landscape signalling mainstream acceptance.  

LAGOS'S WOODEN TOWER
(Shortlisted - Plan B: City Above the City)
Lagos is the most populate city in Africa and represents a big deal for architects. City consists of 16 million inhabitants. Situated in the heart of Ikory, the most popular and the richest residential site of Nigeria, Lagos’s tower is the unique wooden structure which is designed to be a smart and sustainable building. 

The old existing building is located on the highbrow Bourdillon Road with picturesque vegetation. It counts 4 blocks housing units. Each consists of 4 bedrooms and 3 bedroom apartments distributed on 4 floors. There are some amenities: Swimming Pools, Gymnasium, Tennis courts, Children’s Playground, Parking lots, Borehole and water treatment, Sewage treatment plants and electricity Generator
Lagos’s tower rises above the town and follow the sky and search to cross the limit of wooden construction. The new landmark is composed of mixed residential type used; it is built on the roof of Abebe Court, a housing estate. 

The whole is oriented to maximize daylight and natural ventilation. The wooden envelope provides shading from the heat of the direct sun around the shape. Plants belt around each floor contribute to creating fresh air flow and keep a constant microclimate into living space while providing a visual comfort and aesthetic. 

The project focuses on the open area. This is an experimental tall wooden structure in Lagos. The apartments are designed around a central core. Building is divided in 4 parts. The existing structure and new are separated by sky gardens and amenities. The top roof consists of 360° restaurants and lush greenery. Sky gardens also contribute in social gathering between users. It gives a new natural footprint face to the historic Centre dominated by massive and heavy building built in ceramic, concrete and asphalt.

The envelope high lights Yoruba culture with their massive presence in the heart of Lagos. Inspiration comes from the history of Edo, Yoruba and Hausa people. Lagos is the oldest site of Benin Empire and it is awesome to see that there is always a traditional hierarchy in this modern city. Obe yet symbolizes the king of the man, the king of Lagos state. This tower is influenced by the contest ‘they don’t fuck it’, but it wants to be integrated into the city life. 

The entire structure is built by using resistance of LVL wood system. It is used as a load-bearing and a non-load bearing structure. Structural feasibility and sustainability are based on wood. LVL products allow crossing very far-reaching. Wood is known as the fingerprint of Nature into artificial buildings. Maybe will it connects us to nature? Its most powerful comes from the unicity of each piece of wood and it’s wonderful.

This experimental smart tall building is developed through natural, recyclable and local material. It can be a beautiful landmark for Ikory and in Nigeria. By consideration of the context and the local history, the design improved lifestyle and reveal all these points: Marketable, serviceable, economical, sustainable, environmental, Ecological and Social.​

Authored by: Hermann Kamte

The project, located in Melbourne, pushes creativity and design with CLT as standard construction system to new frontiers. The unique layout sees a series of apartments that each pass through the building North to South and split on two levels. This format allows for frontage on both sides of the building and a simple system for natural cross building air flow.  The project is designed around community integration in an urban environment while still enabling individual tenancy. 

105 Punt Road is 8 stories tall with two concrete cores. Currently under development we believe this project represents a new dynamic for Cross Laminated Timber, using the Mass Timber system efficiently while adapting to a new refined set of modern design constraints.

It is still unclear who will be supplying the CLT for the project, but we imagine that in the near future as more local producers in NZ and AUS come online there will be a greater push for domestic product from relatively local managed forests.  

More can be found on deciBel Architecture's Website, images from deciBel Architecture. 

White Arkitekter paired with Florian Kosche in Sweden have won a competition to design and build an innovative wood skyscraper in Skellefteå, Sweden. The building will function as a cultural centre mixed with a four star hotel covering 16 stories. Currently the project is designed to reach an astonishing 76 m in height, putting in a strong position to be the world's tallest Mass Timber Skyscraper. 

The project will be a hybrid solution using a mixture of wood, steel and concrete where each material makes the most sense. This allows modern buildings to take on a strong sustainable push, while maintaining practicality and cost effectiveness. Spans inside the cultural centre call for hybrid timbre steel trusses where clear spans extend beyond 21 m. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2019, and more information can be found here from Dezen. 

Team V Architecture has planned to start construction on the 73 m residential tower in 2017 and finish construction in 2019. For a short while the tower will likely be the tallest wood skyscraper in the world. The apartments are planned to be fairly high end on the luxury scale with tenants choosing their exact layouts and even the number of floors in their apartments.  The project is slated to use mostly CLT along with an innovative facade that has the potential to gather wind energy.  The project will be 21 stories tall and seeks to be a modern beacon of sustainable construction techniques. 

More information can be found from Arch Daily.

Photo: Shigeru Ban via Vancity Buzz

Vancouver BC is quickly becoming a hot bed of the Mass Timber world. The city is already sporting the world's tallest hybrid timber skyscraper, UBC Brock Commons , but Shigeru Ban plans to push that even further as his firm takes on the skylines of the Pacific North West. 

The project details have not been fully released yet but briefings entail a hybrid building with the lower portion being conventionally constructed with concrete and steel. The upper 7 (or more) stories are designed in hybrid mass timber solutions. Mass timber was chosen to help reduce the eccentric mass at the top of the building during a seismic event. This allows the building to exhibit superior earthquake performance characteristics. 

In Shigeru Ban's refined style, the project is expected to exemplify elegance of materials and purity of connections. This engineering feat sees a amazing combination of international architects & engineers meeting with local knowledge and abilities to produce a one off masterpiece. The project is expected to host Douglas Fir glulam as a key feature of West Coast style, strength and local sustainability. 

​We look forward to more developed press releases and final project details to form, fit and height. 

Quadrangle Architects has teamed up with Fieldgate Homes to produce Toronto's first Mass Timber six story building. The project will host 37 high end residential suites. Titled, HeartWood The Beach, the development is currently in pre-construction and located at 1884 Queens Street, Toronto, near the waterfront. Mass Timber with use as CLT and Glulam was chosen for the primary structural system being cited as more environmentally friendly than concrete or steel and just as strong. The goal behind the structure is to expose the wood where practical and create a dialogue between modern urban society and the natural world beyond, integrating them as part of a holistic linage. 

You can learn more about the project on the developer's website HERE. 

The World's tallest Mass Timber building is well underway and the Mass Timber portion of the project is moving ahead of schedule. The 18 story student residence has been proceeding with erection at nearly a pace of two floors per week. The final project will top out at 53 m (173 ft) tall and house over 400 student dorms.  The University of British Columbia has been extremely progressive in the pursuit of modern engineered wood products, helping to support the economy of British Columbia, as well as supporting the city of Vancouver for its Greenest city in the world 2020 vision. 

A Mass Timber - concrete hybrid structure was selected to demonstrate the viability of Tall Wood structures while remaining cost comparative and adding life safety factors. The project demonstrates a high level of fire safety with multiple redundant systems in place, including 3 layers of gypsum and high end reserve sprinkler system. In the event of an earthquake the timber structural weighs less than the concrete alternative and provides better energy dissipation, allowing it to exemplify superior seismic performance. 

The project is revolutionary in its use of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) in a true 2-way span, allowing for the removal of all beams in the structural system. The Mass Timber system consists of glulam columns and CrossLam floor plates with specialty steel connection linking the elements. These elements are progressively assembled and stacked together at a record breaking pace.  The Mass Timber portion was prefabricated with CNC machines offsite to tight tolerances. This allows for a quick and easy progression on site with little to no problems and holdups. 

Key Mass Timber Project Members of the team are:

UBC Properties Trust - Client
Acton Ostry - Architect of Record
Fast + Epp Engineering - Engineer of Record
UrbanOne - General Contractor
Seagate Structures-  Mass Timber Installer
Structurlam Products - Mass Timber / CrossLam Fabricator

This live webcam from Seagate Structures, gives a weekly timelapse of the project and daily photos. 

Keep tuned for more updates and in-depth report at the end of the project. 

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Mass Timber projects are popping up around the globe but this one takes on some exceptionally interesting ideas. Anders Berensson Architects have proposed a skyline changing Wood Skyscrapers for downtown Stockholm.  The projects is 113 m tall and built above an existing parking garage. The weight of CLT compared to traditional construction methods was a key determining factor in its choice as the structural system. The positive environmental benefits of the project were also key to the choice of CLT. 

The project is wrapped in an artistically stylized facade which not only works as a sunshade for the interior of the structure but also allows easy counting of the floors as this will be the tallest building in Stockholm.  The project has been named Trätoppen which means the tree top. 

More can be found for the project on Anders Berensson's blog HERE. 

PLP Architecture has teamed up with the University of Cambridge to propose the tallest free standing Mass Timber structure in the world. The 80 story building, centred in London, would be 300 m high and house roughly 1000 residential units.

The project may seem like an aggressive leap for Mass Timber design but we often forget that many tress approach 100 m in height  around the world. These trees often also have lifespans of over 2,500 years with a gigantic solar sail set into the wind. These natural structures last through numerous forest fires, earthquakes and extreme weather events. There is no question as to if a wood based structure can do this or not, the question is if we are smart enough to design it in an environmental, economic and durable manner. 

​More can be read HERE.
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