Futures Forum: A solution to our housing problems: build housing off-site
However, we do need to look at the materials, as the building industry produces a huge amount of CO2:
Futures Forum: Climate change > and getting buildings to 'net zero'
Futures Forum: Climate change: "The built environment is part of the problem, but through the potential of planning, architecture and design, it is also a crucial part of the solution"
This point was raised in a comment last year - that CLT (cross-laminated timber) is made of a renewable crop, making it one of the most sustainable and low carbon building materials on the market:
Using modular construction on the other hand, work on the house can take place at the same time as the foundation is being prepared. Since modular homes are constructed in a controlled factory environment Cross-lamination they are not susceptible to delays due to weather or insufficient, sub-par, damaged, or stolen building materials. Even assuming not a single unexpected delay takes place on a site-built home, it will still take longer to construct than if it was built using modular construction.
Finally the modular home gets set on the foundation and your builder connects the utilities and does all of the on-site work necessary to get you moved in! All while the site-built home cross laminated timber builders is still twiddling their thumbs, waiting for it to stop raining.
Using cross-laminated timber as the main ingredient in a building design CLT House has many benefits. Compared to steel or concrete CLT is reasonably easy to work with on site. Prefabricated sections arrive on a truck, are quickly craned into place, and are simply joined together with a skeleton crew. It has been said that if you see someone with a saw or a hammer on a CLT building site – it means something has gone wrong.
Of course when it comes to timber building – there is always the question of fire-safety, but CLT is vastly different from stick-frame wood construction. Mass timber is significantly more difficult to ignite and once it catches fire it begins to char, causing it to burn at a slow predictable rate. Believe it or not, engineered timber CLT building system like this can outperform structural steel in a fire. In one test, a glulam beam was pitted against a steel beam in a fire. The steel failed after 30 minutes, while the timber remained straight and true, retaining 70% of its structural integrity.
On top of all this – CLT is made of a renewable crop, making it one of the most sustainable and low carbon building materials on the market. Of course it isn’t all plain sailing designing CLT wood construction system with CLT. As with all new materials it will require a huge amount of rigorous testing before it will be widely accepted by building departments around the world. In addition to this CLT is unfamiliar terrain for many designers, so working with it requires the development of new details and ways of building.
Despite these challenges, mass timber represents a fantastic opportunity for the construction industry. The world’s population is both growing and urbanizing rapidly. This means more, buildings, denser buildings Modern CLT House more steel, more concrete and more carbon emissions. According to Canadian architect Michael Green, who is well-known for his use of CLT, steel and concrete combined represent 8% of the total greenhouse emissions. The building industry contributes 47% of the United States’ CO2 emissions. In his TED Talk, Michael makes a strong case as to why we should be building skyscrapers from wood.
30 August 2018 at 02:08
Futures Forum: A solution to our housing problems: offsite manufactured homes
Here's that TED Talk:
Building a skyscraper? Forget about steel and concrete, says architect Michael Green, and build it out of … wood. As he details in this intriguing talk, it's not only possible to build safe wooden structures up to 30 stories tall (and, he hopes, higher), it's necessary.
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