CLT post at the Urbanist

The Urbanist has a short article on cross laminated timber by Susan Jones, FAIA. The article contains some background on the blue beetle effect in Canadian forests as well as an update on domestic production of CLT.

See more at:


http://www.theurbanist.org/2015/10/15/clt-whats-all-the-excitement-about/

U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition Names Winning Designs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the award of funding to support development of two tall wood buildings in the U.S. Two teams will split $3 million in funding to support the research and development of their proposed projects.  The contest required buildings at least 80 feet tall using mass-timber (such as cross laminated timber) and other engineered-wood.

One winner is 475 W. 18th, a 10-story residential high-rise in New York. 
Architect: SHoP Architects,
Consultants: Arup, Icor Consulting Engineers, Atelier Ten
Developer: Spiritos Properties

The other winner is Framwork, a 12-story multi-use building in Portland Oregon's Pearl District
(residential, office, commercial, and community spaces)
Architect:  LEVER Architecture
Consultants: KPFF
Developer: Project

More on the projects:
http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/us-tall-wood-building-prize-competition-names-winning-designs_o
USDA Press Release
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2015%2F09%2F0259.xml

September news roundup

Time for a news roundup -- recent links from around the web. Have something you want shared with SEAW? Send it our way.

Wood

Lessons learned on recent mass timber buildings around the world

http://www.rethinkwood.com/tall-wood-survey

Hans-Erik wrote an article on tall wood buildings in Arcade magazine (note: article is embargoed for non-subscribers until November 11)

http://arcadenw.org/issues/empathy-fire-and-spades

FPInnovations is selling a handbook on Tall Wood buildings for Canada

https://fpinnovations.ca/ResearchProgram/advanced-building-systems/Pages/promo-tall-wood-buildings.aspx#.VBmdPBYZ7CU

The website for the ambitious USA Tall Wood Building competition is now active. The goal is to realize at least an 8 or 10 story commercially viable timber high rise in the USA. http://tallwoodbuildingcompetition.org/

Reuse and Preservation

Architectural Record discusses buildings that are not flexible or functional enough to last long.

http://archrecord.construction.com/features/critique/2014/1409-Obdurate-By-Design.asp                                     

Preservation Green Lab (a project of The National Trust for Historic Preservation) finds that a mix of older and smaller buildings hold more economic and social vitality than new construction.

http://www.preservationnation.org/information-center/sustainable-communities/green-lab/oldersmallerbetter/

Preservation Green Lab begins a research series on building demolition and reuse with an article that uses Los Angeles as a case study for issues surrounding building reuse.

http://www.preservationnation.org/information-center/sustainable-communities/green-lab/partnership-building-reuse/

Energy

AIA is giving a series of classes on net zero building design

http://www.aiaseattle.org/GettingToZero

Building codes could harmonize seamlessly with LEED certification as USGBC, ASHRAE, and ICC join forces
http://www.usgbc.org/articles/standard-1891-igcc-leed-phillips-head-hammer

http://www2.buildinggreen.com/article/one-standard-rule-them-all-leed-igcc-1891-be-parts-single-system

Resilience

A resilient city conference was held in San Francisco this September and discussed the Rebuild by Design competition sponsored by the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force

http://resilientcity.uli.org/           http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/

Oakland hires its first “Chief Resilience Officer”

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/oakland-hires-its-first-chief-resilience-officer

The Cost of Retrofitting Multifamily for Resilience (to floods)

http://urbanland.uli.org/sustainability/resilience-efforts-hurt-affordability-multifamily/

Kiewit General Manson issues their design-build team’s first annual report on the strategies they used to incorporate sustainability into the SR 520 design.

SR 520 Floating Bridge and Landings Project Annual Sustainability Data Report

 

May Committee Meeting Minutes and Next Meeting

The minutes for last month's meeting are here.

One thing not mentioned at the last meeting is that Michael Green and Eric Karsh were keynote speakers at the PSU Symposium.   It was the same talk featuring their mass timber projects presented at the SEFW last fall, but there is a recording for those who want to watch: http://vimeo.com/92475801

Our next meeting will be at Coughlin Porter Lundeen again.  We will follow up on the energy code and talk about other potential projects.  Participate in the Doodle poll to select a meeting date.

Enclosure Considerations for Tall Wood Buildings

RDH Building Sciences is hosting a seminar this week about mass timber's exposure to weather. Lunch is provided.
May 8, 2014, 12pm - 1:15pm.


2101 N 34th Street, Suite 150
Seattle, WA 98103

Tall Wood Buildings – Enclosure Considerations
The construction of mass timber and taller wood buildings is becoming more common in
North America. The increased exposure to weather and new timber construction methods
pose unique challenges for the design and construction team. This presentation provides
guidance on building enclosure design and detailing published in two recent industry
guidelines.

Presenter: Graham Finch, Dipl.T., M.A.Sc., P.Eng.

Email jkies@rdhbe.com or call 206.489.2198 if you would like to invite yourself or if you have questions. 

Recent articles and research

Last meeting I mentioned a couple of recent areas of research and articles. See below for links.

Interlocking CLT
The University of Utah's Integrated Technology in Architecture Center is studying various CLT configurations that minimize the use of adhesives and make use of beetle kill pine.
http://itac.utah.edu/itac/ICLT.html

"Slab Happy"
A look at concrete slab insulation from the insulation perspective.
http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-059-slab-happy
Also see the Building Science site for other articles on thermal bridging and other construction issues. This article covers the thermal bridges on the Aqua Tower in Chicago:
http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi062-thermal-bridges-redux

USDA announces high-rise wood design competition in partnership with Wood Works

Last week, the USDA announced they will be creating a wood construction training program and high-rise design competition in partnership with Wood Works and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council. Up to $1M will be allocated for the design competition.

The Secretary also announced plans to launch a new prize competition, expected to begin later this year, for developers, institutions, organizations and design teams competing to demonstrate the architectural and commercial viability of using sustainable wood products in high-rise construction. The Department is planning to invest up to $1 million to launch the competition. One non-profit partner, the Binational Softwood Lumber Council, has committed an additional $1 million for the competition. The competition will help spur increased sustainability in construction and will give priority to applicants that source materials from rural domestic manufacturers and domestic, sustainably-managed forests.

This announcement follows last year's Canadian support for timber high-rise construction, with the Canadian Wood Council and Natural Resources Canada offering a similar amount for innovative wood design showcase projects.

For more information, see the press release from the USDA.

On a related note, our committee member, Hans-Erik Blomgren from the White House for USDA Tall Wood Workshop. Presentations are here http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/wood.shtml
 

Cross-Laminated Timber at University of North British Columbia

 At the SEFW annual forum, Michael Green and and J. Eric Karsh presented on a variety of wood-panel buildings, including the UNBC engineering building. The building will spotlight CLT construction with an innovative floor system and walls. You can watch construction at the UNBC website, link below.

http://www.unbc.ca/engineering/watch-construction-future-home-engineering-live#!

December Committee Meeting and Past Minutes

Our upcoming meeting is Wednesday December 4th at KPFF.  Since our usual meeting time of the 4^th Wednesday of the month conflicts with Thanksgiving this month, we are moving to December 4^th.  This will be our last meeting this year.  We are looking for someone willing to host meetings at a Seattle office in the new year.

Our December meeting will continue our series on the sustainability of cross-laminated timber and wood design.  We will feature Myer Harrell and Kirsten Clemens from Weber Thompson to discuss the architectural considerations for tall CLT buildings.    

Image courtesy of Weber Thompson

We will also recap the Tall Wood presentation by Michael Green.

We have the availability for web and audio conference at the meeting if requested.  

Last month’s meeting minutes here.

Seattle DPD: Cross-Laminated Timber

Here's an update on the City of Seattle's Code Advisory Committee's study of using cross-laminated timber in buildings taller than currently allowed by code:

In the May meeting, we discussed reconvening in November in order to review the newest information made available through resources such as the Canadian Tall Wood Handbook and the NFPA Arup paper. 

We have since become aware that a stakeholder group is meeting to view the presentation on the NSF/NEES Seismically Resilient Tall Wood Building Grant in January. Because seismic information is pertinent to this discussion and evaluation, it has been suggested we shift our November meeting to January so the groups can merge to participate in both the NSF/NEES and NFPA presentations.  At that time we can also discuss general updates, The Canadian Tall Wood handbook, and share any contacts made since May involving projects where CLT buildings have been allowed by the local jurisdiction.

Our meeting will be either the 3^rd or 4^th week in January. 

Contact Kathleen Petrie if you are interested in attending the meetings or receiveing meeting minutes.