On top of that, wooden edifices can be easily renovated or extended without creating much of a hassle. Also, the waste generated and material left from timber construction can be used for other building projects. Wood also has a low thermal conductivity which makes it easier to heat and cool while requiring and wasting less energy in the process.Ĭoncrete construction produces a lot of waste whereas wooden skyscrapers less. Wooden buildings, on the other hand, can be cut to exact sizes and slotted into place within a few hours. One of the biggest problems with steel skyscrapers is that they have to be built with concrete, which takes weeks to dry. Wood construction allows for faster and quieter construction with more biodegradable materials and less waste. Timber can also be shaped quickly using computer-directed cutting machines.Ĭoncrete depends on certain weather and timing conditions to be poured on-site whereas engineered wood can be prefabricated in a factory sheltered outside conditions. On the other hand, concrete has to undergo time-intensive processes, from casting and curing in a mold. Building with CLT requires smaller cranes, smaller foundations and fewer construction workers. Wood can stand at one-fifth the weight of concrete. Image courtesy of Advantages of wooden buildings compared to concrete buildings Engineered wood can compete with traditional materials with its own unique set of advantages. Glulam isn’t as versatile as CLT but its incredible strength makes it superior for load-bearing beams and columns. Glulam, on the other hand, are glued boards in the same direction, forming massive beams with a tensile strength comparable to steel. The resulting material is a wooden structural rigidity in every direction, allowing it to mimic the compressive strength of concrete and bear loads up to 20 times heavier than traditional lumber. Then the boards are glued together in alternating orientations. It is a freshly cut log that is sawed into smooth uniform boards of wood. These new wooden materials start like all other lumber. But now with the invention of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glue-Laminated Timber (glulam), engineers have solved these two problems. These two properties are necessary to support tall buildings and battle powerful winds at high altitudes. Traditional boards of lumber lacked steel’s tensile strength or concrete’s compressive strength. So what are the potentials of wooden buildings? The old problems of strength, fire and deforestation are also being answered. It can be grown from sustainably-managed forests and engineered in factories. Wood on the other hand can be grown sustainably and it’s lighter. However, concrete and steel are costly to produce and heavy to transport. And it allowed architects to build higher than ever before. Steel was strong, could be molded into any shape and used to reinforce concrete. Then by the start of the 20 th century, the era of steelmaking had arrived. But at that time it has a major drawback, fire can easily destroy a large portion of a city. Throughout human history, buildings and houses have been made from wood. There’s a lot of unrealized potential for using timber at a very large scale. And the answer might lie in a natural material we’ve been using for millennia. Architects can no longer ignore their responsibilities toward choosing more eco-friendly and sustainable materials. So we need to find ways to build skyscrapers more sustainably for our growing populations. This means that 8% of our contribution to greenhouse gases today comes from those two materials alone. Steel represents about 3% of greenhouse gas emissions and concrete is over 5%. These materials consume very high energy and produce greenhouse gas emissions in their process. But the challenge is that cities are built with two main materials which are steel and concrete. So over the next 30 years, new homes will need to be built. It is expected that by 2050 the world’s population will soar to almost 10 billion people and two-thirds of them will be living in cities. More people mean more and bigger buildings. Today more than half of the world’s population lives in cities and that number keeps growing. And the race to build more edifices has been fuelled by a growing population living in urban areas.
The race to build the tallest and biggest building has been fueled by steel and concrete. Skyscrapers have always been the symbol of modern ambition.
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