One of the world’s most impressive ‘plug and play buildings’—a 12-metre steel-free build fitted with cross-laminated timber in the walls and floors—had to undergo extensive lab testing to prove that the wood and fasteners could withstand the fury of earthquakes and tornadoes.
That is according to Ondrej Soska, the Commissioner General for the Czech Republic’s 2025 Expo pavilion, who, with representatives from Stora Enso, provided Australian architects, engineers, and developers with a VIP tour of one of the Expo’s most impressive exhibits.
Taking just three months to assemble on-site, the timber frame – which uses more than 800 cubic metres of cross-laminated timber and 200 cubic metres of glulam – was shipped from PEFC-certified forests in Czechia via Hamburg and Verovice, with the mix of offsite prefabrication and super fast installation allowing for the impressive fully glazed spiral installed over the timber frame months ahead of schedule.
“The system used on this project is the Stora Enso Sylva™ CLT wall and floor system,” said Andrew Dunn, CEO of the Australian Timber Development Association, who said the system – popular in European schools – could one day find itself in Australia. Deployed in the Paris Athletes Village, Stora Enso uses robots and automation to manufacture easy-to-assemble timber parts used in walls, floors, roofs, stairs, beams, and columns.
The final stop on the week-long WoodSolutions study tour, which included a walk-around Japan’s National Stadium, a tour of a post-and-beam factory in the shadows of Mount Fuji, and a tour of Nara Forest – one of the world’s oldest sustainably managed forest plantations – delegates got to enjoy a final walk around the Expo, a playground for timber engineers.
“Everywhere you look, something captures the eye,” Dunn said. “From the grey weathering on the skywalk, to the pavilions…and even the toilets, which are fully constructed from wood.”
- Please note: This is the final story in the Wood Central series from the WoodSolutions Wooden Architecture Tour to Japan. Click here for insights from the tour’s first, second, third, and fourth days.
