The company claimed the facility was the first in the UK to feature a framework made from LVL.Īs its name suggests parallel-strand lumber (PSL) is a type of mass timber made from parallel strands of wood connected with glue. The veneers, which are created by thinly slicing timber under heat and pressure, are all oriented in the same direction in a similar manner to glulam. This means the material is often used to make beams and columns, much like glulam.īritish furniture brand Vitsœ used LVL to create its headquarters and production facility in the English town of Royal Leamington Spa (pictured). Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is a type of mass timber made from thin layers, or veneers, of timber. Michael Green Architecture combined nailed-laminated timber with CLT and glulam to build a seven-storey tower in Minneapolis that, at the time of completion in 2016, was the largest mass-timber building in the USA. The material can be used for constructing floors and walls.
These panels can be constructed from standard-sized and largely available planks of wood without the need for a dedicated manufacturing facility. Nailed-laminated timber (NLT), which is also called nail-lam, is manufactured from planks of timber that are placed on their side and nailed or screwed to each other to form panels.
Neumann Monson Architects' 111 East Grand (pictured) was the first multi-story office building in North America to use DLT panels, which were combined with glulam columns. Proponents of DLT claim it is faster and cheaper to produce than CLT as there is no need for gluing. The panels are used in a similar way to CLT and are often used to construct floors and roof decks. See projects featuring cross-laminated timber ›ĭowel-laminated timber, also known as DowelLam or DLT, is a type of mass timber made entirely from wood. DLT panels are constructed from layers of softwood that are connected by friction-fit hardwood dowels. Recently White Arkitekter used the material to create a "carbon negative" skyscraper and cultural centre in Sweden (pictured). The studio's Dalston Lane project, completed in 2017, is one of the world's largest CLT projects. Numerous CLT buildings have been built around the world with Waugh Thistleton Architects' nine-storey Murray Grove tower, completed in 2008, an early example of a timber high-rise. The panels, which are cut to size before being assembled on-site, can be used to create structural walls as well as floors in multiple-storey buildings.ĬLT is usually made from larch, spruce or pine. This gives it a similar appearance to plywood, but with much thicker layers, or laminations.ĭue to the arrangement of the layers, the structural CLT panels have structural rigidity in two directions. Often called super plywood, the material is a panel made by gluing layers of wood at right angles to each other. London studio used Maccreanor Lavington created a diamond-shaped glued laminated timber structure for the roof of the dining hall at the Ibstock Place School in Roehampton (pictured above).Ĭross-laminated timber (CLT) is the best-known and most commonly used type of mass timber.
Glulam is usually made from fir, larch, oak or spruce. The structural members can be made in straight lengths for beams and columns or in curved pieces that can be used to form arched structures. This means that large structural members can be made from smaller pieces of timber. It is constructed from layers of timber that are all orientated in the same direction. Usually referred to as glulam, glued laminated timber is a type of mass timber that is often used for structural members. Read on to learn about the different types of mass timber: This involves replacing cut timber with new trees, which need to be left growing long enough to replace the lost biomass.
Timber is a renewable material capable of sequestering large amounts of CO2, as the carbon that trees remove from the atmosphere throughout their life is stored in the wood.Īs a result, the material is increasingly being used to lower the embodied carbon footprint of buildings, so long as the timber is harvested sustainably.