![]() ![]() Our supertall timber project, in which we have designed wooden skyscrapers ( Figure 2), shows the viability of commercial and residential buildings at a new scale in timber, using components and materials that are commercially available today. And although the axial strength of some hardwood LVL in compression and tension is sufficient to engineer very large buildings, the ability to transfer tensile loads that can be carried by the full section from one element of timber to another remains to be determined. For example, platform construction with CLT is limited by the perpendicular-to-grain crushing of panels at floor junctions, a phenomenon that is difficult to overcome above 10 stories or so. All can be used with existing modes of construction.īut there are limitations. CLT can be used much like slabs of concrete in walls and floors, and glue-laminated timber and LVL can substitute for steel or concrete columns and beams. Novel properties in trees may give rise to a new class of natural materials, but engineered timber products on the market are already giving designers around the world opportunities to innovate with large-scale construction. With better knowledge of how the elements of cell walls contribute to the properties of plants and forest products, it may be possible to breed or genetically engineer plants with specific functional properties that are more favorable to construction. ![]() In Arabidopsis, lignin appears to help control the way cells move past each other as they are pulled apart in tensile tests. Through biochemistry, it can be grown with lignin-depleted cells for studies of the role of lignin in giving plant cells their characteristic properties. As an example, the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, whose genome is well defined and editable, is essentially the mouse of plant science. Improved information about how to break down plants into useful components can also enhance understanding of their underlying properties. The materials science of natural materials is less well understood, but the use of biofuels has helped drive fundamental research on the makeup of plant cells and their constituent parts. Materials science has advanced the industrial production of steel and reinforced concrete since the mid-19th century. Research and the design and construction of contemporary large-scale timber buildings together further the architectural and structural engineering knowledge necessary to make tall timber buildings a reality. 2017b).īy pushing the limits of theoretical designs into the realm of the supertall 2-and sometimes beyond that which is feasible using current materials and construction technologies-our research sets out the requirements for the next generation of engineered plant-based materials. Height increases are currently incremental, but through a combination of theoretical design and physical testing, the viability of timber buildings can be demonstrated at much greater heights than previously possible ( Ramage et al. There is also competition in the building industry to construct the tallest timber tower. Advances in biological knowledge, engineering of plant-based materials, and interest in renewable construction are converging to create new possibilities for materials and allow for larger, taller, and more natural engineered wood buildings ( Green 2012 Ramage et al. Timber has exceptional properties for building, many of which have been overlooked in the construction of ever-taller buildings in the past century. Using wood from only 30 percent of Europe's managed forests with current practices, the entire population of Europe could be housed in perpetuity, even assuming the entire housing stock was renewed every 50 years ( Ramage et al. Furthermore, CLT construction requires only about 30 m 3 for an apartment for two people. And the use of natural materials instead of steel and concrete in taller and larger buildings can reduce carbon emissions. Innovation in natural materials, design, and construction may allow a similar increase in the height of timber skyscrapers. The scale of these contemporary buildings is significant, as the first metal-framed skyscraper, William Le Baron Jenney's Home Insurance Building in Chicago, was 55 meters tall when completed in 1891, and 1931 saw the completion of the Empire State Building in New York City, at 381 meters. ![]() Treet, a 14-story apartment building in Bergen, Norway, rises 52.8 meters and is made of cross-laminated and glued laminated timber. ![]()
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