In Japan there is a wood temple built by Buddhist monks which has been standing since 607AD. That’s 1413 years old and still standing at five stories tall. Wood is an ancient material and looking as far back into civilization in Canada as possible wood was the material of choice. Indigenous builders observed and understood the material’s properties so well that they would create bentwood structures crossing the strands creating the strongest configuration for the least amount of waste. Material would come from the earth and go back to the earth. Once Colonizers discovered Canada, they exploited the land through fur trading and logging. Not too long after, industrialization took off and steel and concrete structures took over. Now we are experiencing the next revolution, the digital age, and with advances in computer aided tooling timber is making a come back.
Where did timber go?
In the early ages of industrialization factories along the rust belt were made from mass timber. There are many examples in Toronto of these timber beam and brick buildings with nail laminated timber floors. Chicago was also full of mass timber architecture and was subsequently the reason the city burnt to the ground in 1871. This infamous fire resulted in a requirement for regulation on fire spread prevention and formed national building code as we know today. Mass timber buildings ceased to be designed – it was expensive to meet code and the organic nature of wood made it difficult to find large enough blemish free spans. Advances in digital tooling has made structural wood much easier to fabricate. European and Scandinavian countries invested heavily into wood technology schools and now Cross Laminated Timber can be seen emerging in North America.
What is CLT?
CLT is cross laminated dimensional lumber made into large panels – almost like giant sheets of plywood. The cross lamination creates strength in both directions and is much lighter than typical steel and concrete structures allowing foundations to be cheaper. These CLT panels work as sheer walls typically accompanied by glulam columns and beams. Currently Canadian CLT uses glue for lamination but a company in Germany is producing one hundred percent wood product fastened by just dowels1. This company even goes so far as to ensure trees are logged during a waning or new moon to harvest the hardest wood2. The natural strength of wood is fascinating, it does not use its own mass to be stacked like blocks of cheese rather the fibers are like bunched like rope so its true strength engages when in tension. Mass timber is also uniquely efficient in the way it is constructed;
- Since parts are prefabricated in a shop and transported to site, they are cost, time, and material efficient.
- Openings for thresholds and services are all pre milled requiring far less trade workers to work on site.
Residents near Brock Commons 18 storey CLT tower in Vancouver were pleasantly surprised how quiet the construction was. This change in construction style has been a challenge for the building industry but is an inevitable change to be embraced.
If that’s not enough to motivate you to support mass timber – here’s the most important factor;
With the climate crisis we need to reduce our carbon footprint more than ever. Local growing and manufacturing greatly reduce embodied energy and require no fossil fuels. Forests in Northern Ontario with world leading sustainable forest management3 have potential to become big commodities for our economy like they once were in early years of colonial Canada. This time instead of clear-cutting forests the land can be sustainably harvested to preserve biodiversity. Railway infrastructure from Northern Ontario exists from the logging turned mining industry. I optimistically anticipate that mass timber manufacturers will set up alongside the railway near sustainable forests and sawmills reducing transportation pollution. Supporting local products means money generated stays here and will return into research and land stewardship.
Not only is the carbon footprint of local wood very low – it’s negative.
Any carbon created by production is neutralized and like the impact of planting trees in a city, timber continues to absorb and trap CO2 throughout its lifetime. The embodied value is more than just cost, its valuable in cultural heritage, community wellness, and land stewardship. No one material is the best choice for every application, concrete and steel are still needed, but if you’re looking to invest in wellbeing then wood is pretty good.
