by Web Editor | Jun 8, 2015 | News
Tall wood buildings proponent and famed architect Michael Green teamed with Finnish timber and panel maker Metsä Wood to redesign the iconic Empire State Building in timber frame construction.
Part of Metsä Wood’s Plan B campaign to educate the public on the importance of wood in construction, the company says that wood should always be considered as a serious option in everything from design to construction and also in buildings in which wood hasn’t been previously used. The Plan B campaign re-engineers famous buildings – another project redid the Roman Coliseum – using engineered beams and panel instead of steel, stone and concrete. Metsä produces laminated veneer lumber – LVL – among many other high-strength wood construction lumber and panel products.
Green and his architectural design firm MGA created the design and construction plans for the wooden version of the Empire State Building.
“We designed a skyscraper using Metsä Wood’s Kerto LVL engineered wood as the main material from floors to column spacing,” Green said. “I believe that the future belongs to tall wooden buildings. Significant advancements in engineered wood and mass timber products have created a new vision for what is possible for safe, tall, urban wood buildings. The challenge now is to change society’s perception of what’s possible. In fact, this is the first new way to build a skyscraper in the last 100 years.”
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/iconic-empire-state-building-gets-wood-makeover?ss=news,woodworking_industry_news
by Web Editor | Apr 17, 2015 | News
The American Wood Council has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to conduct research on the fire performance of mass timber buildings. AWC will partner with the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Fire Protection Research Foundation and the Property Insurance Research Group.
The AWC proposal is intended to advance the construction of taller wood buildings in the United States by demonstrating the fire performance of newer mass timber products. Over the last several years, tall wood buildings have been completed around the world using this new technology – including a 9-story building in London, 10-story in Prince George, Canada, and 14-story building now under construction in Bergen, Norway. These buildings have consistently demonstrated the successful application of mass timber technologies.
“Findings from this project will inform the building community and the insurance industry, providing an increased level of confidence in both the adequacy of this new construction type and when setting fire insurance premiums. This is a new method of construction to insurers, and in order to provide reasonable insurance coverage, they need to understand the performance of the material,” said AWC Vice President of Codes & Regulations Kenneth Bland. Increased use of wood in building construction also holds great promise for improved environmental impacts.
“Innovative mass timber wood products encourage sustainable forestry and capture large amounts of carbon, thereby reducing greenhouse emissions through both sequestration and the substitution of wood for more carbon-intensive products. The construction of tall wood buildings would put America at the forefront of an emerging global opportunity,” said AWC President & CEO Robert Glowinski.
When announcing the USDA 2015 Wood Innovations grant recipients, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Working with our partners, the Forest Service is promoting deployment of new technologies, designed to support new market opportunities for wood energy and innovative wood building materials.”
From the American Wood Council: https://www.awc.org/NewsReleases/2015/newsreleases2015.php#20150415
