by Web Editor | May 24, 2017 | News
One building stands out in the old logging town of Prince George, Canada. Encased in a sleek glass facade, the structure towers above most of its neighbors, beckoning from afar with the warm amber glow of Douglas fir. Constructed almost entirely from timber in 2014, the 8-story, 30-meter building is among the tallest modern wooden structures in the world. But it is more than an architectural marvel. As the home of the Wood Innovation and Design Centre at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), it is also an incubator for wooden buildings of the future — and a herald for a movement that could help to tackle global warming.
The building is less like a log cabin and more like a layered cake, constructed from wooden planks glued and pressed together, precision cut by factory lasers and then assembled on site. All told, the university avoided the release of more than 400 tons of carbon dioxide by eschewing energy-intensive concrete and steel, and the building locks up a further 1,100 tons of CO2 that was harvested from the atmosphere by British Columbian trees. In total, that’s enough to offset the emissions from 160 households for a year.
Wooden construction has ancient roots, but only in the past two decades have scientists, engineers and architects begun to recognize its potential to stave off global warming. By substituting concrete and steel with wood from sustainably managed forests, the building industry could curb up to 31% of global carbon emissions, according to research by Chad Oliver, a forest ecologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In time, such a shift could help humanity to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere, potentially reversing the course of climate change.
“It’s the plywood miracle,” says Christopher Schwalm, an ecologist at Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. “This is something that could have a significant impact on the riddle that is global environmental change.”
From Nature.com: https://www.nature.com/news/the-wooden-skyscrapers-that-could-help-to-cool-the-planet-1.21992
by Web Editor | May 12, 2017 | News
Residents and officials eager for a new siding plant to open in northeast Minnesota are going to have to wait a bit longer. Louisiana-Pacific — which last year announced the purchase of a former mill in Cook, Minn., to expand its thriving engineered wood siding business — now says it will first convert a mill the company operates in British Columbia to make siding.
In a conference call with analysts, LP’s chief operating officer Brad Southern said it makes sense to develop the Canadian site first because of its proximity to the company’s West Coast customer base, and because the mill is already staffed and operating.
But that doesn’t mean a northern Minnesota plant is off the table. The Cook location and another site in Quebec “are likely options for future siding expansion,” said Southern. He added the company is “continuing our planning process for both locations with a focus on Cook.”
Still, the earliest the Cook mill would likely open is 2020, Southern told analysts. The company would first need to construct buildings and equip the entire mill. “The advantages of Cook, though, is it is a larger mill,” said Southern. “Cook gives us a lot of upside on volume. It’s a beautiful piece of land, a beautiful site to construct the mill and then expand it.”
State legislators and economic development officials on the Iron Range have had high hopes for the Louisiana-Pacific plant as something that could kickstart the region’s wood products industry.
From MPR News: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/05/08/hotly-anticipated-northern-minn-wood-siding-plant-delayed
by Web Editor | Feb 13, 2017 | News
The new Brock Commons student residence at the University of British Columbia will be the tallest contemporary mass timber building in the world when finished this May. The term “mass timber” or “mass wood” covers an array of approaches, usually referring to a structural system combining engineered wood columns and floor slabs. In Canada, the most commonly referenced technical innovation, and one of the ones behind Brock Commons’ structure, is the cross-laminated timber (CLT) slab, available in a variety of thicknesses for different span requirements.
While Brock Commons’ height will unquestionably get the lion’s share of attention after its completion, that’s not the most interesting thing about the building for architects. Rather, it is the fact that, on typical floors, the wood is not visible.
Acton Ostry Architects principal Russell Acton, FRAIC, the lead designer of Brock Commons, has lectured widely on the project. When he talks to architectural audiences, he is inevitably asked: “why didn’t you expose the wood?” The answer is that the wood structure has been encapsulated in drywall and concrete topping to ensure efficient code compliance.
This pragmatic approach was a response to achieving quick approvals, and as an associated outcome, addressed perceptual challenges in terms of fire safety. In fact, the historic (and completely understandable) fear of fire in wood frame buildings is dramatically less relevant to mass timber. During a fire, the outside surface of a thick wood member chars while protecting a structural core of unburnt wood. As building codes develop, it is likely that the testing of mass wood assemblies will assist authorities to better understand the inherent fire resistance of mass timber, and potentially reduce the need for encapsulation, provided that a sacrificial layer of wood char is provided in its place.
From Canadian Architect: https://www.canadianarchitect.com/features/reaching-new-heights-2/
by Web Editor | Oct 5, 2016 | News
Say what you will about wooden construction, it is sustainable. So it’s great that even large structures are now being built out of wood. One awesome example of this type of architecture is Brock Commons, a University of British Columbia student housing tower. It will rise to an impressive 174 ft (53 m) and will be the tallest wooden residential tower in the world once it is complete. Which it very nearly is.
It took just 66 days to build the wooden tower. It’s not quite finished yet though, but once complete it will contain 33 four-bed rooms, and 272 studios, so the 18-floor tower will be able to accommodate 404 residents. The tower was designed by Acton Ostry Architects.
The structure consists of 16 floors of five-ply cross laminated timber (CLT) floor panels, and has a steel-framed roof, as well as a few concrete sections, namely the base and stairwells. The façade of the tower is made of prefabricated panels that had the windows pre-installed. These panels contain 70 percent wood-based fibers with steel stud framed sections, and form a high-pressure laminate cladding.
The construction went remarkably quickly. At first they managed to build one floor per week, but were able to go faster after that, building two or more floors per week. Not including the concrete sections, they’ve been able to complete the entire structure in just over three months, which given the size of the tower is quite remarkable.
The Brock Commons residence was also designed according to LEED Gold certification standards, and will receive this certification once it is completed. They estimate that it will be completed in May, 2017, which is four months ahead of schedule. They are currently installing the steel roof, which they hope to complete in a couple of weeks.
From Jetson Green: https://www.jetsongreen.com/2016/09/tallest-wooden-tower-in-the-world-is-almost-complete.html
by Web Editor | Aug 31, 2016 | News
In Vancouver, Canada, the towering timber Brock Commons just had its final panel installed, making the dream of the world’s tallest timber building a reality, reports the website Inhabitat.
In just 66 days – ahead of the original scheduled timeframe – the exterior of the Acton Ostry Architects‘ record-breaking design has come to fruition, which could bump up the projected fall 2017 completion date to next year’s spring semester. The final panel of the University of British Columbia student housing structure was lifted and installed earlier this month.
John Metras, managing director of UBC Infrastructure, said, “Construction just went really smoothly. It was well designed and the construction sequence went smoothly.”
Construction began last November, followed by the erection of the building’s freestanding concrete cores earlier this year.
To ease fire safety fears of an 18-story timber structure, Brock Commons is outfitted with a sprinkler system and the wood is encapsulated in drywall and concrete. The lighter weight of the building also allows for better energy dissipation during an earthquake, making it proficient at withstanding all kinds of disasters. Students will be able to move in next year, quite possibly in the spring semester.
From ProudGreenBuilding: https://www.proudgreenbuilding.com/news/worlds-tallest-timber-building-topped-off-ahead-of-schedule/
