Interesting paper: “Comparison of life cycle assessment databases: A case study on building assessment”

I am trying something new: From now on, whenever I come across an interesting publication, I’ll post a link to my blog. Abstract Comparability of life cycle assessment (LCA) results based on different background data has long been debated. This is one of the main issues in building LCAs since buildings are complex products, which […] Read more..

How Feasible is Tall Wood?

A recently-published report entitled “Summary Report: Survey of International Tall Wood Buildings” investigates various aspects related to the feasibility of tall wood buildings. This report, published by Forest Innovation Investment and the Bilateral Softwood Lumber Council, summarizes findings from surveys and interviews with key personnel involved in the creation of ten worldwide buildings, all of which are […] Read more..

“Urban Timber” Exhibit at the BSA Showcases Contemporary Wood Architecture

Yesterday was the opening of the exhibit “Urban Timber: From Seed to City” at the BSA Space of the Boston Society of Architects. Located close to Boston’s waterfront, this exhibit runs through the end of September 2014. So if you are in the area, don’t forget to drop by and check it out. I was […] Read more..

You can now use SketchUp with Allen/Iano’s Fundamentals of Building Construction book

When it comes to learning construction methods and systems (and, of course, the related materials), it is crucial for a student to understand how things fit together. Every construction system is an assembly of subparts (e.g. beams, bolts, decking) and often a layering based on various functional requirements (e.g. air barrier, insulation, structural sheathing,…). This […] Read more..

SOM gets on Board with Tall Wood

If you have been following the recent building trends in wood architecture, you may have already asked yourself this question: How tall can we build in wood? As it turns out, the currently most prolific highrise planning firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is throwing their weight into the discussion. With a recently published report, this firm is […] Read more..

Fire-resistance of Cross-Laminated Timber

  Canadian researchers recently put Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), a somewhat new building product, to the test to determine fire-resistance properties. Their findings were: The tests demonstrated that CLT assemblies can achieve significant fire resistance that is close to three hours in some cases with even unprotected CLT under full loading conditions. The failure modes were […] Read more..