Wood is a natural material and a renewable resource. Sustainably managed forests can regenerate and absorb carbon in the process.

When a timber building is designed with dry assemblies and with ease of installation in mind, it can also be disassembled at the end of the building’s life much easier than a concrete building. the parts can then be used in another building or for another use rather than ending up in the landfill. Demolition waste is a huge part of our landfills, and using raw materials every time we make something is depleting the planet of valuable resources. Timber buildings designed with deconstruction in mind can keep those materials in the economy for many cycles, reducing the demand on our planet.

Building with wood requires significantly less energy than concrete or steel in the manufacturing process. In addition to this reduction in embodied carbon, mass timber provides an additional carbon benefit known as carbon sequestration. As trees grow, they consume carbon, sequestering it in their wood fibers. When we harvest the wood for construction, we are trapping that carbon in the wood through the preservation of the material rather that letting it be released by decay or fire. Wood is also the only renewable structural material that we have available to us at this scale.

The ability to leave the structure exposed in mass timber buildings allows for a much more intimate connection with the nature. Exposure to natural materials in buildings, known as biophilic design, is proven to benefit people in a number of ways, from reducing stress to increasing productivity. The exposed structure also allows for a premium finish without additional layers of material.

Mass timber is uniquely positioned to facilitate a manufacturing and project delivery innovation boom. The relatively light weight material is more efficient to ship than concrete or steel pre-fabricated structures, and it is well suited for fabrication through automated CNC processes controlled by digital models. The precision and quality of pre-fabricated parts coming from factories, as well as the opportunity to integrate other materials to make complete assemblies or modules, provides a better way to deliver mid- and high-rise buildings in our urban cores. Companies around the world are creating new connections, systems, and project delivery models to accelerate the adoption of low embodied carbon materials.

Mass timber is safe, both in a fire and an earthquake. Timber burns at a very predictable, slow rate, and the char that builds up protects the structural material on the inside. This natural fire protection can be calculated and is accounted for in the building design to ensure that it meets the same fire standards as other buildings. In an earthquake, the timber acts as the diaphragm, bringing lateral loads back to the core, while reducing the loads that the building sees overall due to the lighter weight structure as compared to steel and concrete.

Due to the highly coordinated nature of mass timber construction, by the time the beams, columns, and panels get to site the clashes have been resolved in the digital models. This allows for fast, efficient installation of the parts, which are labeled and shipped to facilitate just in time delivery and picking the panels from the truck if the site allows. In addition to the speed of erection on the frame itself, additional trades can be coordinated with the timber, minimizing cuts on site and providing a built in layout for follow on trades. With no temporary shoring in the way, those trades can get to work as soon as the frame is up, compounding the time savings on site.