Mass timber might develop into a key software in decreasing waste from the development trade, GXN associate Lasse Lind tells Dezeen on this interview for our Timber Revolution collection.
GXN was based in 2007 because the analysis arm of Copenhagen-based structure studio 3XN.
GXN appears to be like at round and low-carbon design, behavioural design – together with the social side of buildings – and applied sciences that may assist the trade transition to a extra sustainable future.
Use of timber “exploded”
Its use of timber has “exploded” lately, with round half of its buildings now having a major aspect of wooden of their construction, up from virtually none 5 years in the past, Lind stated.
“We have at all times been very fascinated about supplies and materials expertise,” Lind informed Dezeen.
“Our materials focus has advanced to alter over time and now we’re extraordinarily targeted on recyclability, recycled content material, low-carbon, pure biogenic supplies – that’s our absolute focus.”
Nearly all of the studio’s work for the time being is in mass timber, which Lind says has many benefits over different constructing supplies.
“The primary one is clearly decrease carbon, which is an enormous benefit, and the truth that it is sort of regenerative as a fabric,” he stated.
“There are different features as effectively, that are associated to build-ability,” he added. “Timber tends to be lighter than, for instance, concrete building. So that you want much less transport and, in precept, fewer crane lifts.”
Timber helps you “shut the loop on waste”
The truth that every little thing is prefabricated with regards to mass-timber building additionally means it’s potential to work with extra exact tolerances and lower down on waste, in line with Lind.
In a current mission, a full-timber resort extension on the island of Bornholm, Denmark, the studio even used offcuts from the cross-laminated timber (CLT) used for the constructing to create furnishings and furnishings.
“You do not have quite a lot of waste, doubtlessly, within the manufacturing,” he stated. “Particularly if you concentrate on it like we did within the prototype on Bornholm, the place we used all of the offcuts for furnishings – you possibly can really shut the loop on waste within the manufacturing chain a bit.”
Development waste at present accounts for greater than a 3rd of all waste generated within the EU.
As a part of its analysis on this space, GXN can also be experimenting with utilizing offcuts from CLT boards as slabs in its buildings.
“You would need to stay with the truth that it is completely different thicknesses and you would need to have a look at the grid as a result of if it is offcut supplies, you can’t get every little thing in eight metres,” he stated.
“It’s important to have some substructure to accommodate a wide range of sizes, so it’s good to spend a bit of bit extra vitality on the substructure however then you possibly can really use these offcuts as precise slabs.”
In the mean time, the addition of concrete to the slabs is among the issues that makes it exhausting to design absolutely reversible timber buildings.
“In bigger timber constructions, the place you might have slabs, the usual observe is to solid every little thing out attributable to sound and vibration,” Lind defined.
“So primarily, you probably have a timber slab, you solid a screed of concrete on high, and that truly messes up the reversibility of quite a lot of the construction,” he added.
GXN has tried to create buildings that use options to concrete slabs, together with a model that noticed the studio use egg crates full of sand as a substitute of the slabs.
“What we tried to do on the mission on Bornholm is to have these crates and fill them with granite mud, waste manufacturing from granite, however the engineers would not log out on it, sadly, so we weren’t ready to try this for that mission,” Lind stated.
“However we’re doing a constructing proper now the place we’re eliminating that concrete screed,” he continued.
“It is one thing we’re at all times conscious of after we’re constructing with timber – if we will get away from that element, we would wish to, as a result of it is a small element however it messes up the reversibility of the entire construction.”
Carbon finances “constructions the dialogue”
Lind believes that sooner or later, we are going to see quite a lot of hybrid timber techniques because the trade figures out when wooden is greatest to make use of.
“We [need to] work out what timber is actually good for, what concrete is actually good for and what metal is actually good for,” he stated.
“The method ought to be to minimise the usage of concrete and metal, however there are simply elements of a constructing the place [those materials] makes extra sense,” he added.
“I am very that we use supplies the place they’re greatest, and I believe there are quite a lot of locations the place we might simply substitute concrete or metal with timber.”
To assist minimise carbon emissions, GXN units carbon budgets for every of its initiatives that adjust relying on the kind of mission and nation it is in-built.
“The one factor we at all times attempt to do is deliver a carbon finances, as a result of it places carbon up for dialogue with each materials alternative and in that sense, it constructions the dialogue, like a monetary finances does,” Lind stated.
As timber buildings develop into extra standard, Lind believes that in addition to having an affect on carbon emissions, the fabric can even affect the way in which that buildings look, behave and really feel.
“I believe we are going to start to discover, as designers, the vocabulary of what we will do, which I believe will likely be very fascinating,” he stated.
“I do not suppose it will likely be the identical as structure was 50 years in the past after we sort of found the pc, but when you concentrate on it, there are quite a lot of actually artistic half-timber buildings in Europe which have every kind of bizarre ornaments and shapes and types,” he added.
However although the usage of timber and mass-timber is gaining popularity, there are nonetheless challenges going through architects when designing timber buildings. One in every of these is conveying the security of the buildings to insurance coverage firms.
“What we’re seeing as a problem for timber buildings proper now’s typically insurance coverage, as a result of it is a completely different materials from what individuals normally use,” Lind stated.
“We frequently discover that insurers have to get on board and perceive that it is completely different. As a result of you possibly can safe timber buildings, you possibly can construct them in a manner the place they’re protected to function and so they’re protected as an asset, however there’s a diploma of scepticism from insurers.”
Designers ought to love timber’s “pure patina”
There are additionally generally regulatory difficulties as fireplace security guidelines are sometimes based mostly on buildings made out of metal or concrete.
“Inherently timber constructions burn another way than metal or concrete does,” Lind stated.
“And you’ll construct safely with timber, however the way in which that you just measure and regulate it must be completely different as a result of it is not metal,” he continued.
“Metal will get extraordinarily sizzling after which it snaps, timber burns very slowly. It is only a completely different technique, fire-wise, that it’s good to apply.”
Architects and purchasers additionally have to get used to the truth that timber is a residing materials, which suggests it’s going to change in ways in which concrete and metal buildings may not, he argued.
“There is a sure diploma of pure patina that it’s best to love as a designer,” Lind stated.
“It’s best to love the truth that it is a materials that modifications over time – it will change color, possibly have some cracks, it is not going to look the identical without end,” he added.
“So there’s some aesthetical issues that it’s best to be capable of take your shopper by and perceive that it is a residing materials and performs another way than an inorganic materials.”
The architect believes that we’re solely at first of seeing the chances of timber and mass timber.
“There are a great deal of issues that you could possibly do even with pretty easy timber building; there’s an entire subject of investigation that we’re entering into which will likely be very fascinating,” Lind concluded.
Timber Revolution
This text is a part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution collection, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether or not going again to wooden as our main building materials can lead the world to a extra sustainable future.
