Archinect - News

The case for more wooden buildings

2019-01-07T15:07:00-05:00

Governments can help nudge the industry to use more wood, particularly in the public sector—the construction industry’s biggest client. That would help wood-building specialists achieve greater scale and lower costs. Zero-carbon building regulations should be altered to take account of the emissions that are embodied in materials. This would favour wood as well as innovative ways of producing other materials.

The Economist compares the environmental impact of the industrialized world's most common building materials, cement and steel, with that of carbon-trapping wood, and how an earnest effort to reach the emission goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement cannot ignore building with timber on a much, much grander scale.

What kind of housing will Shigeru Ban's "tallest timber hybrid" add to Vancouver?

2016-07-20T12:50:00-04:00

Details are scant, there's only one rendering, and yet according to on-the-nose-named developer PortLiving, Shigeru Ban has designed the world's tallest timber hybrid apartment complex. Called Terrace House, the sloping glass-encased, timber-framed, concrete and steel-cored building will eventually tower over Vancouver's waterfront. No word on whether this apartment complex will be adding affordable units or more luxury condominiums to Vancouver's bracingly expensive housing market.

For more on the resurgence of timber as chic building material:

BikeHive by Workshop XZ - Timber in the City competition entry

2013-10-24T13:21:00-04:00

"BikeHive" by Zijie Cao & Xin Wu of Workshop XZ gives a fun twist to the beehive concept. The proposal was one of over 1,000 entries that submitted to the Timber in the City: Urban Habitats competition where participants had to design a midrise, mixed-use complex that uses innovative wood construction and addresses the housing needs of the Red Hook waterfront neighborhood in Brooklyn.

In related news, the opening reception of the Timber in the City exhibition at Parsons The New School of Design in New York City will be today, Oct. 24 from 6-8 p.m.

Previously: Timber in the City Competition: Design Students Imagine a Mixed-Use Complex for Red Hook