Addressing Skilled Labor Shortages with SIPs by Joe Pasma, PE The good news is commercial construction is picking up after several dismal years, with construction spending projected to be 5.5 percent higher in 2014 than 2013. The bad news is the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) has pointed out “a skilled labor shortage in the country may threaten projected growth and the ongoing recovery.” How can structural insulated panels (SIPs) help? |
Energy Efficiency and Building with Wood: Six Building Lifecycle StepsBuildings have an impact on people and the environment throughout their entire lifecycle, starting with extracting resources from the earth to putting them back in the earth, or burning them, at the end of their lives. To evaluate the effect of buildings in this regard, everything from the energy they consume, the waste they generate, and the carbon dioxide (CO?) they emit must be considered throughout six major cycles. |
Energy Efficiency and Building with Wood The combination of wood and energy efficiency in construction can be the result of new wood technologies. Introducing new sustainable forestry management policies and manufacturing with engineered lumber products will lead to alternative building practices using glued-laminated (glulam) and cross-laminated timber (CLT), computer-aided manufacturing, and optimal value-engineered framing. The lifecycle of a building, energy measurement, and Passive House design elements are discussed. |
Design of Fire-resistive Exposed Wood Members The article offers an in-depth look at design considerations for fire resistance when building with wood products. It also looks at wood engineering mechanics and design procedures that comply with the International Building Code (IBC), recognizing fire resistance demonstrated by structural wood beams and columns in actual fires. |
Building Tall with Wood in the Future There is growing movement among leading architects to embrace wood as a structural replacement for concrete and steel in mid?rise and even high?rise projects. The exploration of new engineered and hybrid technologies is leaving industry visionaries expecting to see high?rise wood structures within their lifetime. Further, as the effects of global warming become more evident, alternative methods of construction need to be explored. One option is to maximize the use of wood. An example is illustrated in CEI Architecture’s designs for a proposed 40-story office building—a unique structure addressing issues of creating effective and attractive working environments that are appealing to a broad cross section of the working public. |
LCT ONE: A Case Study of an Eight-story Wood Office Building LCT ONE is an eight-story, timber-based sustainable building developed in Austria in 2012. The goal of the project was to develop a flexible, high-performance, prefabricated construction system as a new product, which meets all technical and economical requirements of modern real estate markets. The project is based predominantly on a renewable resource—wood, with additional emphasis placed on resource and energy efficiency. The project is meant to demonstrate to the building industry that there are new timber technologies and industrial processes where a modern, system approach to construction can be applied. |