Architects turn to the old friend: wood construction is in high demand

New technologies, old traditions, environmental imperatives, cost concerns, the revival of ancient low-tech techniques… neither the building industry nor its future is simple. Delano spoke to members of the sustainable construction movement to find out what’s going on in this sector. A new neighbourhood is under construction. Huge, prefabbed pieces of reinforced wood arrive to the construction site, each one cut to specifications predetermined by an AI program. The insulation is so good that a heating system practically isn’t necessary and, strengthwise, the wood composite rivals good old concrete. Next door, another house is going up, this one made of pieces of clay–sourced nearby–that have been 3D-printed in a factory. Both houses cost less to build than the once-ubiquitous masonry buildings in Luxembourg, and they cost far less to heat. Oh, and it takes just a few days to assemble their main structures onsite. Wood: it’s happening The above is, admittedly, a vision of the future–though only in part. Wood is fast becoming an attractive alternative to concrete and for plenty of reasons. Most obviously, it stores CO2 and it requires neither tremendous amounts of fossil-fuel-generated heat (like steel does) nor a CO2-emitting chemical reaction (like cement, an ingredient in [...]

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