by Shane Henson — March 21, 2012—Architects, engineers, and developers hoping to create sustainable tall buildings should not overlook using wood as the main construction material, according to the Canadian Wood Council’s (CWC), feasibility study, The Case for Tall Wood Buildings: How Mass Timber Offers a Safe, Economical, and Environmentally Friendly Alternative for Tall Building Structures.
Revolutionizing the way the building community designs and implements structures, the more than 200-page document delves into society’s shifting thought process, recognizing that issues such as climate change and increased housing demands as part of urban intensification are no longer notions but, represent new realities that need to be addressed. The study encourages those involved in building design and construction to push the envelope of conventional thinking about wood construction and inspires them to expand this discussion so that wood is positioned as the driving force behind a systematic change for the building industry—one with environmental, economic and common sense benefits.
The study was commissioned by CWC on behalf of the Wood Enterprise Coalition. The CWC says the study represents the views of the many interviewed developers, marketing groups, contractors, fire chiefs and building authorities, and introduces a new construction model for tall buildings, which utilizes mass timber panel—the concept is referred to as “Finding the Forest Through the Trees” (FFTT).
“We selected the name to acknowledge the scale of the challenge facing the world today,” explains Michael Green, principal at Michael Green Architecture and co-author of the study. “To slow and contain greenhouse gas emissions and find truly sustainable solutions to building, we must look at the fundamentals of the way we build—from the bones of large urban building structures to the details of energy performance. We need to search for the big picture solutions of today’s vast climate, environmental, economic and world housing needs.”
The FFTT model represents the first significant challenge to the predominant use of concrete and steel in tall building design since their adoption into daily use more than a century ago. Looking to refresh the current way of thinking about wood in tall building design and construction, The Case for Tall Wood Buildings is driven by the desire to find safe, carbon-neutral and sustainable alternatives to the current structural materials used in urban society.
