by Web Editor | May 9, 2016 | News
A new bill from Congress would establish performance driven research for advancing tall wood building construction in the U.S.
The “Timber Innovation Act” would:
· Authorize the Tall Wood Building Prize Competition through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) annually for the next five years
· Create federal grants to support state, local, university and private sector education, outreach, research and development, including education and assistance for architects and builders, that will accelerate the use of wood in tall buildings
· Authorize technical assistance for USDA, in cooperation with state foresters and state extension directors (or equivalent state officials), to implement a program of education and technical assistance for mass timber applications
Recent advances in technology, engineering and safety have made it possible to build taller wooden buildings using newly-developed mass timber products, like cross-laminated timber. In the last five years, 17 buildings between seven and 14 stories have been built using heavy timber construction globally. Canada, Norway, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and France all have constructed and occupied multiple tall-wood buildings.
Other countries have already been considering wooden skyscrapers. Researchers presented the Mayor of London with plans for an 80-story wooden building just a few weeks ago.
Multiple organizations in the U.S. wood industry, including The American Wood Council (AWC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC) and Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA), have all announced strong support for the bill.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/new-bill-would-push-research-timber-building-construction-us?utm_source=WIT050616&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WeekInTrees
by Web Editor | Nov 20, 2015 | News
Portland is growing up—adding high-rises, increasing density, and pricing many people out. But two local firms are exploring a state-of-the-art building material that could help solve the city’s affordability problem, create living-wage jobs in rural communities, and help save the planet. It’s wood.
Right now, Portland-based LEVER Architecture and real estate development firm Project^ are designing a 12-story mixed-use wood building in the Pearl District that will be made primarily of a material called cross-laminated timber (CLT).
That’s an unheard of height for wood structures, which top out at six stories in most of the US. And it’s not the project’s only unique attribute. Five of those stories will be affordable housing, something Portland desperately needs.
LEVER and Project^ have partnered with Beneficial State Bank (which owns the property at 430 NW 10th), Albina Community Bank, and the housing agency Home Forward on the development, which they’re calling Framework.
The team’s ideas received national attention: In September, the US Department of Agriculture awarded the project a $1.5 million grant—money that will help alleviate the cost of proving to state and local building authorities that tall wooden buildings can meet safety requirements for earthquakes, fires, and other perils.
From The Portland Mercury: https://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/the-worlds-most-sustainable-high-rise-construction-material-is-wood/Content?utm_source=WIT112015&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WeekInTrees&oid=16991973
by Web Editor | Apr 24, 2015 | News
Although it may seem counter-intuitive, it would be better if we built buildings from wood than from concrete, brick, aluminum and steel.
We use millions of tons of these modern materials every year. They have many valuable properties, but are energy-intensive to create, accounting for around 16% of the entire planets’ fossil fuel production. Instead we could be using wood, which is also strong, renewable, and plentiful – we use only a fraction of the world’s available forestry resources.
Our research, published in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry, estimated that the world’s forests contain about 385 billion cubic meters of wood, with an additional 17 billion cubic meters growing each year. A mere 3.4 billion cubic meters is harvested each year, mostly for subsistence fuel burning; the rest rots, burns in fires, or adds to forests’ density.
Swapping steel, concrete, or brick for wood and specially engineered wood equivalents would drastically reduce global carbon dioxide emissions, fossil fuel consumption and would represent a renewable resource. What’s more, managed properly this can be done without loss of biodiversity or carbon storage capacity.
In our study undertaken by scientists from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the University of Washington’s College of the Environment we evaluated various scenarios including leaving forests untouched, burning wood for energy and use of wood as a construction material.
From Architecture & Design: https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/comment/swap-steel-concrete-and-brick-for-wood-wooden-buil?utm_source=WIT042415&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WeekInTrees
