Interest in timber is surging – increasingly timber is being seen as the material of choice for low carbonised buildings. In some instances, timber has been used in combination with renewables to completely eliminate carbon and take buildings off-gird!
In recent weeks Wood Central has covered projects from Brazil to the Maldives.
From Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris to the Nayara Bocas del Toro in the Panama Treetops, the Tottori Takahama Café and even the Snohetta Bolder Star Lodges in the Norwegian Fjord.
All to soon these projects will be plotted on the WoodSolutions Project Portal – which will identify timber-rich projects across the globe.
The world’s first timber reference point for buildings
Released today (March 28) the portal uses an interactive search function and allows users to identify timber buildings, filter by a range of variables and identify features which can inspire future timber projects.
This innovation provides a valuable resource for those looking to develop, design, and build using timber. Eileen Newbury explains:
“The Project Portal presents exemplar timber-rich projects in an easily accessible and searchable form, allowing users to not only view projects similar to those they might be considering, but to also see the companies involved in their development, design, construction and supply of materials.”
Effectively, users can use the software to plot timber buildings – like the award-winning International House, Barangaroo in Australia, or the SCION Innovation Hub in New Zealand – and reference the buildings when specifying and / or building new projects.
This means an architect in Singapore could use the software to plot a Canadian project and take inspiration to develop a project in Indonesia.
“Visitors to the site can not only view and review existing projects, but they can also submit their own projects, promoting their experience and expertise,” Ms Newbury said.
This is Arch Daily for timber-rich projects!
How it works
The portal uses an interactive search engine, similar to Google, Bing and Yahoo, and provides users the option to search by project name, type and location.
Additionally, users can categorise projects by metric or imperial unit type – highly adaptable to meet global requirements.
Projects are regularly onboarded, at time of writing recently added projects include the Pyramindenkogel Tower in Linden, Austria, Tamedia Office in Zurich, Switzerland, Hidden Creek Community Centre in Hillsboro, USA and Ascent in Milwaukee, USA
The portal could accelerate mass timber adoption
Australia has emerged as a leader in mass timber, with the WoodSolutions program playing a key role in driving the use of mass timber including glue-laminated timber, cross-laminated timber and laminated veneer lumber in construction projects.
As reported last week in Wood Central, there are only 70 CLT manufacturers worldwide, a number that must increase swiftly to keep up with demand.
The newly launched WoodSolutions Project Portal, along with initiatives like CLT Toolbox, address a major gap in the adoption process, providing users with access to knowledge which can help with future projects.
The portal complements the existing range of free online resources provided by WoodSolutions, including a species matching app, over fifty Technical Design Guides, fire test reports, a free expert advice service, recordings of presentations and podcasts, case studies and more.
Download the portal today and have a look for yourself.
