There’s already a 14-story timber tower. Why designers are pushing to re-embrace a construction material as old as human history.
MICHAEL GREEN ARCHITECTURE
Michael Green’s Wood Innovation Design Center in British Columbia.
By Courtney Humphries
Think of a modern cityscape and any number of materials come to mind: the glass and steel of an office tower, the stately brick and stone of a townhouse, the asphalt pavement and stark concrete canyons of 20th-century urban redevelopment.
All of these have, at some time, heralded visions of the city’s future. Now, if a growing chorus of architects have their way, the next generation of urban buildings will be crafted from an innovative, versatile structural material that’s key to sustainable large-scale development. You’d know it as wood.
In the quest to limit the energy and resource costs of construction, a number of global architects have begun designing and constructing modern buildings from a substance we now associate more with suburban homes. Thanks to novel composites, several multistory buildings have already been erected around the world with timber skeletons, and plans for taller buildings are in the works.
“We all are hard-wired to see the city as being steel, glass, and concrete,” says Yugon Kim, an architect at design firm IKD who curated a new exhibit on the benefits and possibilities of timber construction at the Boston Society of Architects’ BSA Space in Boston. “Our proposal is that we need timber to save us.”
They’ve been making a larger argument to the industry and to policy makers that to build cities with a lower environmental impact, wood is not just promising but necessary. It’s a plentiful resource that grows back relatively quickly, and even pulls carbon out of the atmosphere as it does.
But its advocates are up against some significant obstacles. On this scale, the construction industry is set up to work in concrete and steel, and doesn’t change course easily. Architects are unaccustomed to envisioning their designs in timber. They also face building codes shaped by wood’s long record as a flammable material. In that sense, its advocates are fighting history in their effort to bring it back.
The buildings they envision have been dubbed “plyscrapers.” Their halting arrival into the mainstream of architecture represents a test case for whether the goal of sustainability can motivate a reversal of both long-term construction norms and the laws that have grown around them. And in the long run, they also may offer the prospect of putting the look and feel of cities through a whole new transformation.
***
SOM
Architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill reimagined a 42-story apartment tower it had built in the ’60s as a “timber tower,” replacing most of its concrete structure with wood. Using timber would reduce the building’s carbon footprint by 60 to 75 percent.
IN MANY PARTS of the world, timber long dominated urban streets. Wood was abundant, inexpensive and easy to work with. But it also had profound weaknesses. It was flammable, especially as it aged and dried: Whole downtowns would be gutted as fire swept through neighborhoods. The great fires in Chicago (1871), and London (1666) may be the best known, but most large cities went through catastrophic fires—Boston’s worst was 1872—and had to be rebuilt more than once.
Wood also had structural weaknesses that limited the size of buildings. Anyone who has seen a house built knows what a wood frame looks like: a lightweight timber skeleton that might support a few stories, but lacks the strength for larger structures. And the heavy beams that supported 19th-century factories and warehouses came from old-growth forests that have long since been logged.
What makes it possible to conceive of timber skyscrapers today is a generation of wood products that bear little resemblance to a two-by-four. Called “mass timber” for its size, the new family of materials consists of wood glued together into large prefabricated panels. One of the most widely used, cross-laminated timber, was first developed in Switzerland in the early 1990s, and further refined in Austria. It comes in panels up to nearly 20 inches thick, 18 feet wide, and 98 feet long. It binds multiple layers of wood with the grain running in perpendicular directions, creating a material that is strong, durable, and resistant to shrinking and swelling. At these dimensions, it also performs much better in fire tests; the outside chars, leaving the inner sheets intact longer. A mass timber beam can retain its strength longer in a fire than an unprotected steel beam.
The primary argument for tall timber buildings is environmental. Though dense cities are relatively resource-efficient, tall buildings are uniquely costly when you consider the “embodied energy” of their materials—that went into producing, transporting, and installing them. “Concrete is particularly bad, steel’s not much better,” says Daniel Safarik, editor at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
Trees, on the other hand, can be replanted; the carbon locked into timber offsets the emissions required to harvest and process it. “It’s the only way you can build a carbon-neutral building from the outset,” says Vancouver architect Michael Green, who’s emerged as one the most avid advocates for wood construction.
Energized by this prospect, architects have been trying out new timber structures. In 2009, the nine-story Stadthaus apartment building in East London became the tallest modern timber building in the world, and a 10-story apartment building in Melbourne, Australia, bested it in 2012. A 14-story tower is under construction in Norway.
Closeup: The design uses prefabricated wood panels much like concrete slabs to form the main structural elements of the building; reinforced concrete is used only at joints to give the building stability.
Architects want to push higher. In 2012, Green published designs for wooden towers up to 30 stories. C.F. Moller Architects won a design competition with a planned 34-story wood skyscraper for Stockholm. And the global architectural heavyweight Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has a proposal for a 42-story tower with mass timber floors, columns, and shear walls joined together with steel-reinforced concrete joints.
Perhaps surprisingly for a new material, wood isn’t more expensive to use. But embracing it on a grand scale would require several industries to change their status quo. Architects and engineers tend to stick to familiar approaches; a new type of material would involve entirely new supply chains, skills, and techniques. “The construction industry doesn’t really have a playbook for this,” says Safarik.
Wood has gotten a practical boost from governments and industry in timber-rich places like Austria, Scandinavia, and British Columbia—although in British Columbia, the concrete and steel building lobbies have fought back against the province’s “wood first” policy. And the US Department of Agriculture this March launched a competition for wooden high-rise designs and announced a $1 million investment to train architects and builders to work with wood.
***
Even if practical considerations are worked out, there’s still an important hurdle. Building codes in the United States limit wooden structures over about six floors, and cities have restrictions of their own.
The disappearance of wood from cities has been a centuries-long process. Boston’s first fire ordinance in 1631 banned thatched roofs and wooden chimneys, and codes prohibiting wood in taller buildings arose in the last half of the 19th century. It was the need to find fire-resistant replacements that drove the embrace of the building materials we now associate with cities, says Sara Wermiel, a research affiliate at MIT who has studied the history of fireproofed buildings. Only later were the materials used to create new taller designs that altered urban skylines.
Because mass timber products are relatively new, they aren’t officially recognized in US building codes. Projects that use them rely on an “alternative means and methods” category. That’s beginning to change: The 2015 International Building Code, the most widely used in the United States, will recognize cross-laminated timber as a building material for the first time. But not everyone is convinced that tall timber buildings are a smart move. “The fire service is definitely very concerned about it,” says Amanda Kimball, research project manager at the Fire Protection Research Foundation in Quincy.
Advocates say mass timber can be just as safe as other materials, when used in the same way with drywall interiors, sprinkler systems, and other measures. And they point out that there’s long been a recognition that the thick timber posts and beams used in older factory and mill buildings resist fire. Green’s office is in one of these century-old buildings; he parks his car next to exposed wooden columns in the garage. “By any code in North America, you’re not allowed to build this building,” he says. “But when you go into it, it’s all wood and it’s beautiful.”
As his observation suggests, returning to wood could reshape the city as dramatically as the move away from it. It wouldn’t happen quickly; many of today’s mass timber structures look like normal apartment towers from the outside. “I think that’s a tragedy,” says Green, who uses exposed wood liberally in his buildings, including the nearly completed Wood Innovation Design Center in British Columbia, the tallest modern timber building in North America at 90 feet.
“I think we gravitate towards natural materials, especially wood,” he says. The wood composites in his buildings may look more constructed than thick timber posts of yore, but still exude a warmth absent from other manufactured materials. And a new question arises: After spending so much time in cities of steel and concrete, how would we respond to a skyscraper with a grain?
Courtney Humphries is a freelance writer in Boston. “Urban Timber” runs through Sept. 30 at the BSA Space in Boston.
For further information log on website : https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/07/05/will-cities-future-built-wood/1iunF28vau8i0FQutgSv0L/story.html
“Sense the Future” High Level Session at European Paper Week 2017.
As one of the rare mainstream industries that relies on a biobased, renewable, and fossil-free raw material, pulp and paper is poised to dominate.
That’s the outlook from Bernard de Galembert, Bioeconomy and Innovation Director at the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), writing in Bio-Based World News.
“It is oftentimes overlooked that the pulp and paper industry is itself an entirely bio-based industry, despite this being the DNA of who we are,” de Galembert notes.
Exciting innovations like wood nanocellulose and the growing demand for renewable materials, de Galembert argues, demonstrate that the pulp and paper industry is headed towards a bright future.
And his words apply to pulp and paper companies across the globe—including in Maine.
Right here in Maine, our pulp and paper industry is also innovating. In 2017, Biobased Maine helped Sappi North America issue an RFP to find a biobased technology for potential co-location at the Westbrook paper mill. Also, the Maine Forest Economy Growth Initiative, a collaborative effort led by representatives from numerous Maine forest industries, is focused on finding the best new emerging technologies, some of which may help diversify production and boost profits at existing pulp and paper mills.
“As we navigate towards the future, we as an industry will stand by the motto that theoretically everything that is based on fossil material today will be able to be based on fiber in the future. This is challenge we have set for ourselves and one which we intend to meet.”—Bernard de Galembert
The industry’s innovations and potential were also on display at CEPI’s “European Paper Week,” de Galembert writes:
“What was exhibited however was just a drop in the ocean when it comes to the full innovative potential of the industry,” de Galembert notes. “E.g. printed electronics on paper substrate, paper-based batteries, wood-based carbon fibre, hi-tech textile fiber, food additives (such as vanillin), biofuels, smart anti-counterfeiting packaging, etc.”
For further information log on website : http://biobasedmaine.org/2018/01/30/pulp-and-papers-innovative-future/
News: work has begun on architect Moshe Safdie's Jewel Changi Airport, which aims to "reinvent what airports are all about" by creating a shared public space under a glass dome with a massive waterfall and garden at its centre.
Safdie Architects' 134,000-square-metre addition to Singapore's main airport will combine retail, leisure and entertainment facilities with gardens to create both a public space for local residents and a facility for passengers passing through the airport.
A 40-metre-tall waterfall – dubbed the Rain Vortex – will pour down from a round opening in the roof of the glass dome. It will be joined by an "indoor landscape" of trees and shrubs called Forest Valley, which includes walking trails for visitors.
Rainwater will be collected via the waterfall and reused in the building, and at night it will be the backdrop for a light and sound show that diners can watch from overlooking restaurant terraces.
"This project redefines and reinvents what airports are all about," said the Boston-based architect.
"The new paradigm represented by Jewel Changi Airport is to create a diverse and meaningful meeting place that serves as a gateway to the city and country, complementing commerce and services with attractions and gardens for passengers, airport employees, and the city at large."
"Our goal was to bring together the duality of a vibrant marketplace and a great urban park side-by-side in a singular and immersive experience," he added.
"The component of the traditional mall is combined with the experience of nature, culture, education, and recreation, aiming to provide an uplifting experience. By drawing both visitors and local residents alike, we aim to create a place where the people of Singapore interact with the people of the world."
The shape of the building is expected to serve a dual purpose – creating a natural focus point for the waterfall as well as providing structural strength to allow a more "delicate" latticework effect of glass panels framed in steel. Safdie conceived this aesthetic in "the tradition of glass conservatories".
Tree-like columns will be arranged in a ring around the edge of a roof garden, called the Canopy Park, to provide additional support for the roof. This space has been designed in collaboration with PWP Landscape Architecture.
"The suspended roof arches over the covered atrium, which is connected at multiple levels to the surrounding retail floors," explained the architect.
The route to the new building will be nestled behind the three terminals of the existing airport, which processes over 53 million passengers a year. It will connect to Terminal 1 with an expansion of the existing arrivals hall, and to Terminals 2 and 3 via new footbridges.
Work is due to complete on the project – Safdie's third airport building following Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel and Terminal 1 at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto – at the end of 2018.
Singapore has become an increasingly important market for Safdie, who has been working in the city-state for more than two decades. The architect's Marina Bay Sands hotel development, which opened in 2011, has become an icon on Singapore's waterfront.
Site plan
Speaking to Dezeen at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore in October, Safdie said that Marina Bay Sands had opened up an eastern market for his firm, whose current projects include a 38-storey high-density housing project in Singapore called Sky Habitat and a 900,000 square metre development in Chongqing, China. "It's really put us on the map in Asia that's for sure," he said.
During his closing speech at WAF, Safdie called for a "reorientation" of the way cities are designed. He said that architects were obsessed with designing one-off towers in cities, creating disconnected urban environments and increasingly privatised public space, resulting in cities that are "not worthy of our civilisation".
"Most of the avant-garde in our profession today is preoccupied with fundamentally the object building," said Safdie. "The object building cannot make a city. Unless we resolve this paradox, we will continue to be producing urban places which are disjointed and disconnected and not worthy of our civilisation."
Section – click for larger imageFor further information log on website : https://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/05/moshe-safdie-huge-greenhouse-singapore-changi-airport/
Concrete tubes might be a concept to consider in cramped Hong Kong.
As Hong Kong continues to grapple with an affordable housing crisis of epic proportions, no potential solution, no matter how unconventional or quixotic, is overlooked. And this includes single-occupancy dwellings fashioned out of concrete water pipes.
While we’ve seen concrete pipes transformed into cozy little overnight digs before, this is the first time that repurposed water/sewage infrastructure has been proposed as a creative response to Hong Kong’s dearth of available land to build new, low-cost housing. Previous outside-the-box housing ideas for the ultra-densely populated city have included tucking shipping container villages under highway overpasses and establishing subterranean cavern homes.
While schemes like these — and there have been many — don’t necessarily scream homey, they're usually a step up from the notoriously claustrophobic “coffin cubicles”and partitioned cages that upwards of 200,000 Hong Kong residents call home. Per government figures shared by Reuters, the number of Hong Kong households forced into “inadequate housing” such as abandoned industrial buildings and impossibly small single rooms (some measuring just 62 square feet), surged by 9 percent in 2017.
Tube, sweet tube: Modular micro-flats outfitted inside of concrete water pipes would serve as temporary housing as Hong Kong residents wait for larger, more permanent digs. (Photo: James Law Cybertecture)
The left-field appeal of the O-Pod Pipe House, an experimental concept from award-winning Hong Kong firm James Law Cybertecture, isn’t necessarily the fact that each housing unit is situated within a concrete tube measuring just over 8 feet in diameter. Rather, it’s how and where these pipe-dwellings would be deployed: stacked in narrow and otherwise un-developable land between buildings where conventional construction would likely be deemed a no-go.
Given that vacant parcels of land are a scarcity in Hong Kong, a cluster of O-Pods would take full advantage of the city’s nooks, crannies and alleyways. And because these concrete micro-homes are so heavy — the pipes weigh as much as 22 tons each — they needn’t be bolted together, just plopped atop one another in a neat stack without much additional work. The units, large enough to accommodate one or two people, would be accessible via a simple external staircase.
“The O-Pod is an industrial design innovation where we go to the large infrastructure contractors in Hong Kong and buy extremely cheap, excess concrete water pipes and convert them into housing,” Law told the South China Morning Postof his design, which he first unveiled as a prototype at a Hong Kong design conference held in December. “Because these components are already being mass manufactured, they are extremely low cost, well-engineered and, being concrete, these pipes have good insulation properties. Designed to go underground, they are also extremely strong and can be stacked on top of each other to immediately become a building.”
As Law explains, because each O-Pod is so modestly sized (just 100 square feet of floor space), he envisions them serving primarily as temporary accommodations while tube-dwellers save up for more spacious, permanent apartments or wait for low-cost public housing to become available.
While they make the most of a limited amount of space, O-Tube units are still incredibly small at just 100 square feet. And yes, they include teeny-tiny bathrooms. (Photo: James Law Cybertecture)
(Almost) all the comforts of home
While oppressively petite by most standards, Law has employed a variety of design tricks to maximize available space and squeeze in many of the standard comforts of domestic life. “Everything is done for micro-living: the sofa doubles up as a bed; the flexible shelving system is customisable to the occupant’s needs,” he tells the Post. “We have a micro fridge and a tiny microwave oven — the smallest available on the market — and an integrated shower and toilet inside a space-saving tiled cubicle.”
As for cost, Law estimates that it would cost in the ballpark of $15,000 to acquire a concrete water pipe and convert it into a fully appointed micro-apartment. The Post notes that this is about half the cost of transforming a shipping container into a comfortable, functional home. (Granted, shipping container homes are generally twice as large as an O-Pod.)
For now, there are no plans to make O-Pods a reality, although Law hopes that his prototype will pique the interest of developers interested in taking urban pipe-tecture one step further.
“If any other organisations want to take this forward we’ll be happy to support them with the design,” says Law. “They could then build the pods en masse for sites around Hong Kong that are appropriate for their use.”
It's easy to dismiss Law’s vision as, well, a pipe dream. But in a cramped and housing-starved city like Hong Kong, even the most starry-eyed ideas have a glimmer of possibility.
Inset renderings: James Law Cybertecture
For further information log on website : https://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/unusual-micro-housing-idea-hong-kong-more-just-pipe-dream
The 'Tree House' from industrial designer Benoît Fray is an energy-efficient abode with appeal to both treehuggers and <i>Star Wars</i> enthusiasts.
I’ve never been much of a Star Wars guy — or a fan of sci-fi and fantasy in general — but the minute I laid eyes on the renderings for industrial designer Benoît Fray’s ‘Tree House’ concept for (appropriately) French tree house design firm, Dans Mon Abre, two words immediately came to mind: Ewok village.
I mean, really, Fray’s concept is straight out of Return of the Jedi. However, ‘Tree House’ —which isn’t an actual tree house per say but a towering structure built amongsttrees — is more influenced by environment design than Ewokian building habits. Built 5 kilometers (about 16 feet) from the ground with sustainably sourced wood, the campsite-specific homes can accommodate two to six people in generous living spaces with equally generous wraparound terraces.
Although it’s not exactly clear how the homes will be powered, their design calls for the use of renewable energy sources ... I’m guessing photovoltaic panels although I don’t see any included in the renderings and I wonder how effective they would be if the homes are shaded by the trees they are built around.
Pretty cool stuff; I imagine a grouping of these structures would make killer vacation rentals given that you don't have a serious case of vertigo. I’d be curious to see the final result if and when the ‘Tree House’ makes the leap from concept to reality.
For further information log on website : https://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/eco-ewok-living
Author Shani Wallis, TunnelTalk It was a high profile opening of the Tunnelling Training Academy in Kuala Lumpur. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad joined with Datuk Lin Yun Ling, Managing Director of Gamuda, to recognise the importance of the initiative. Dr Mahathir, a leading supporter of both the city's new mass transit project and before it, the now-famous SMART flood control/highway tunnel project, officially opened the new MMC-Gamuda Training Academy yesterday (December 15), a facility dedicated to training workers in all processes concerned with safe high-technology tunnelling.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (top centre right) and Datuk Lin Yun Ling (top centre left), Managing Director of Gamuda tour the new well-equipped training facility and met the press
With a scientific background as a medical doctor, Tun Mahathir appreciated the level of sophisticated technology on show. The display included the equipment and systems for PLC data acquisition and analysis and surveying systems; a segment erector simulator; a mounted cutterhead for tool change and maintenance training; a shotcrete nozzleman training bay; units for delivering annular grout and EPBM conditioning; and equipment for grout mixing and materials laboratory testing.
Tun Mahathir said that training will not only provide opportunities for local labour in the growing tunnelling market in Malaysia, but also raise the income level of Malaysian workers, and improve the competitiveness of Malaysian contractors on the international tunnel construction market.
Training course explained to Dr Mahthir (left) by Datuk Lin
"Higher income is not just a case of increasing wages," said Tun Mahathir, who guided Malaysia through its greatest period of growth during his 22-year term as Prime Minister from 1981. During his Premiership he championed, among other developments, the construction of Kuala Lumpur's iconic Twin Petronas Towers, and the city's now equally outstanding combined flood control and toll road SMART tunnel. "With training and knowledge our workers and engineers will provide a higher level of local skill to local projects, as well as moving our local capacity higher up the technology supply chain to reduce dependence on international expertise."
The new Academy adds a tunnelling-specific curriculum to MMC-Gamuda's existing non-profit training centres for heavy construction and earthmoving industries. Its creation is also linked to the major tunnelling works that will be needed to complete Kuala Lumpur's new Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, some 10km of which runs underground in twin bored tunnels between seven underground stations.
MMC-Gamuda JV, between two of Malaysia's largest construction companies promoted and built the SMART tunnel project and is competing for the MRT underground works as part of a Swiss Challenge procurement process. Gamuda's Datuk Lin explained in his address how the JV came to present an unsolicited proposal for construction of the Metro and instigated the competitive Swiss Challenge process.
"It was back during construction of the SMART tunnel when Tun Mahathir visited the TBM tunnelling operations and asked us how we planned to develop our new tunnelling expertise and capacity," said Datuk Lin. "We did not have an answer at that time, but we undertook studies into new highway tunnel prospects before realising that mass transit was a more long-term solution for urban transportation. After ten months of detailed studies we first presented the idea to Dr Mahathir before then taking it to the Government. So within two years we had an answer, and this is now coming to reality."
Competitive design-build proposals for the underground works are due in by the end of January with an award of contract expected by April or May. "We will do our best to come up with a competitive bid for the Swiss Challenge," said Datuk Lin. Tun Mahathir added his support to the local bid, saying: "If I had my way, of course I would like to see it done by locals."
Segment erector simulator explained
If MMC-Gamuda is successful, it will see a regroup of its SMART tunnel team, with many now-experienced locals moving into positions of higher management and engineering and a group of expatriates providing career experience of EPBM and slurry TBM contracting, operation and management. An anticipated 10 TBMs will be needed to complete the underground section within a tight construction period being imposed by the Government and the people of Kuala Lumpur, who are growing increasingly frustrated by the city's chronic traffic congestion. To operate these machines on a 24hr/7 day/week cycle, a minimum 30 skilled TBM operators will be needed, along with 30 skilled erector operators and teams of other trained tunnelling workers. If all goes according to current plans, the first TBMs would arrive for launch in early 2013.
The opening of the Tunnelling Training Acadamy marks the beginning of a programme that seeks to attract and train 2,000 workers over the coming two years. Candidates will be recruited from within the MMC-Gamuda workforce and from local technical training schools and take them through various tunnel training modules. These range from 50-55 weeks for those training as electricians or mechanics; to 31-34 weeks for mechanical and electrical engineers or plc technicians; 9-15 weeks for tunnel shift engineers or supervisors/foremen; and 5-8 weeks for erector operators, nozzlemen and skilled tunnel workers. Academy organisers who have built the facility from an empty lot on Gamuda's main plant yard in just eight weeks, say no government money has been spent on the initiative. "We get credits on the compulsory construction industry contributions to government training schemes and schools, but the full 10 million Malaysian Ringgit, or about £2 million, needed to set up and fund the Academy for the coming three years is financed by the MMC-Gamuda JV," explained Don Hall, an expatriate engineer who joined Gamuda for the SMART project and stayed on to worked on the JV's Berapit rail tunnel project. "The demonstration and training equipment in the Academy, including the full size TBM cutterhead dressed with disc cutters and picks, and the erector simulator, have been offered to us at generous rates from industry partners."
Shotcrete training bay
Two boom jumbo on display with the TBM cutterhead
In his guided tour of the facility Datuk Lin explained that all existing workers coming through the Academy will receive full pay during their training and that the weeks of Academy practice will be transferred to full-scale operations on sites. "Training," he said "equals safety, quality and savings. Any damage while erecting a segment for example, adds up to hours of delay as the damaged units are removed and replaced."
In closing his visit, Dr Mahathir joked: "I have my office on the 87th floor of one of the Petronas Towers [close to the route of the new MRT tunnels] and if it settles down I will know the culprits."
Foor further information log on website : https://www.tunneltalk.com/Education-Dec11-Grand-opening-of-Kuala-Lumpur-Tunnelling-Training-Acadamy.php
