Daily Archives: November 28, 2019

UNIDO, with the public sector, has granted hi-tech machinery for the production of bamboo boards from within Sri Lanka for the first time. The first such hi-tech machinery series used for the production of bamboo boards to be set up in Sri Lanka greatly enhances creation of glue-laminated timber boards based on local bamboo supplies. The latest breakthrough is a part of “Bamboo Processing Sri Lanka” -a project launched by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)… The objective of this project is to develop a bamboo supply chain and product industry in Sri Lanka. Bamboo is an exceptionally fast-growing and resilient plant. Producing laminated boards from bamboo will reduce logging pressure on existing forests and therefore protect the environment. …Industrial Development Board of Ceylon is to establish a national bamboo training center and will promote the utilization of bamboo as a substitute for wood while tackling deforestation and creating innovative and sustainable products.

Milan-based studio, Peter Pichler Architecture, has unveiled images of their latest project designed for a tree-covered site close to the austrian town of Kitzbühel. Aptly titled ‘tree suites‘, the proposal is envisioned to form part of a new 7-star hotel development. The timber structures, which rise amid the forest, intend to connect guests with nature and provide a unique experience, similarly to the studio’s previous sustainable treehouse projects conceived for sites in Italy and the US. …In their contemporary interpretation of vernacular buildings, the architects have applied a wooden exoskeleton that wraps around the entire building. This structure is composed of two layers: a diagrid structure and a second layer made of intersecting timber sticks to filter the light and afford privacy. …The application of wood works twofold, firstly to reflect a local and sustainable material and secondly, to provide a warm, cozy feeling within the spaces.

STAVANGER, NORWAY — It is not the first time a new city has blown me away. Nor the first time a building has blown me away. But it’s the first time I can recall both happening on the same day. Welcome to Stavanger, Norway’s fourth biggest city, and in a moment let me take you on a tour of a remarkable new construction here. …Stavanger is the Aberdeen of Norway. …”Welcome to the biggest wooden building in Europe,” said Haugland as we pulled up outside. Virtually all of the construction materials above ground level are wood, and so are the floors, ceilings and stairways which link the seven floors. …I was so awestruck by the whole thing that I snapped away on my iPhone and sent the pictures to the only architect I know. 

When Timothée Boitouzet studied architecture in Japan… he realised the next smart material might be one that humans have used for thousands of years—wood. …In 2016, Boitouzet founded material science company Woodooin Paris, France, which retrofits timber to give it new properties. …Wood, however, can be used for more than support pillars. By selectively extracting wood’s lignin and replacing it with a specific type of polymer, it becomes a new material. This wood is weather-proof, more fire resistant, three to five times stronger, and transparent,” Boitouzet said …So far, automotive companies are the ones that have shown the most interest in his augmented wood. Currently, through a project called Woodoo Augmented Wood, the company is working on integrating electronics into its touch-sensitive wood. The material, which transmits light, will become wooden panels for ‘tactile dashboards’ in cars, Boitouzet says.

Using engineered timber instead of concrete and steel on commercial buildings may not be a lot more expensive, big construction firm Naylor Love says. New Zealand’s largest private construction firm with 700 staff and $600 million turnover, Naylor Love has developed a calculator that quantifies the amount of carbon in building structures using different materials. The calculator is based on a report commissioned by Naylor Love and authored by sustainability experts thinkstep-anz. The research project modelled a typical six-storey commercial building constructed two ways – engineered timber versus conventional concrete and steel. The engineered timber model reduced carbon emissions by up to 90 percent, Naylor Love said. …”The net total cost difference for an engineered timber structure can be as low as a few percent of the total building cost. For this, you can achieve about a 90 percent reduction in carbon emissions.”