A City Made of…..Wood?

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This is one article I am very skeptical of, yet very very amazed. Popular Science released an article talking about recent advancements in material science and buildings. In the past 4 years, Waugh Thistleton has been at the forefront of

architecture engineering. He has brought up a seven-story apartment tower, 90-foot-tall building, and his most famous building, Stadthaus. Stadthaus was the world’s largest modern timber building untill 2012 which was replaced by a 10 story apartment complex. Now all of these accomplished buildings do not compare to the 40 or 60 story skyscrapers in Chicago or New York, but it’s only a matter of time until they are introduced. Architectures now adays are looking for a more environmental friendly approach while continuing to strengthen the building and reduce building costs. CLT was a rec

ent discovery promoted by Australia’s cross- industry funding due to their abundant supply of timber. CLT stands from cross-laminated timber. Wood is naturally strong in its direction of grain and weak in the cross direction. CLT is a fixture of two layers 

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crossed and glued so that as one grain faces one direction, the other layer is perpendicular giving significant strength.

When I began reading the article, I had an immediate red alert go off. FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! The idea that wood can burn so easily distorted by concentration, but the more the read, the more I began to see the logic. The creation ton of steel requires more than 24 times the energy need to create a ton of CLT. CLT is also 15% cheaper than conventional steel and concrete. To continue further, CLT is 350 times more insulative than steel and 5 times than concrete.  Now as all of these numbers are nice, the main perk has yet to come.

WoodWrapWood is a carbon sink. In the creation of the Stadthaus building, it will absorb over 186 tons of carbon. That is equivalent to offsetting 20 years of its daily operations on top of the carbon creatation from the using of concrete and steel in the material process. Wood is also renewable, we can cut it down into more intricate smaller parts for later projects.

Finally, how do we handle the whole fire safety regulations? We all know wood burns, so why would we built apartment complexes or skyscrapers next to each other in a small vicinity? Let’s compare the scenarios, each dealing with the same temperature and size. Because steel is a conductor and lack of insulanity, it will heat up faster and will begin to melt. Once steel begins to melt, “it’s like spaghetti” says, B.J. Yeh, the technical services director for the Engineered Wood Association. When wood begins to burn, it chars and leaves the inside wood protected.

Now, I see many flaws within this ideology. First, it’s clear wood will catch on fire faster than steel. When it chars, structural damage occurs regardless. You would have to repair the entirety of a burning for that you cannot truly know how much damage was taken to underneath the wood. With woods ability to char, it’s also harder to put out because of coals. In case a fire was to occur, the burning smell would be absorbed into the wood. How would you fix that? How would earthquakes affect these wooden structures? Does CLT have a better strength density than steel? If these apartments were set to New Orleans or Jacksonville where water damage is common, how will that affect the building structure. Water warps wood. These are a few skeptics of mine.

http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/world%E2%80%99s-most-advanced-building-material-wood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadthaus,_London

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineered_wood

One thought on “A City Made of…..Wood?

  1. Richard

    interesting find. Wood chars and leaves the interior intact only if it is very thick like a log cabin. Charred wood has little strength. Treated wood would make more sense

    CLT is not new so I wonder what the current push is about. The world does not have a timbers surplus bu the carbon capture is attractive

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