The AEC industry needs new incentives, streamlined approvals and more infrastructure to supercharge creativity with wood, advises HFA architect Andrew Mack.
The U.S. built environment could benefit from approaches to mass-timber design and construction that have taken off in parts of Europe, advised a veteran architect from HFA Architecture + Engineering.
“In Sweden and Austria, timber towers rise with a warmth and craft that feel alive, not just sustainable,” writes HFA’s Andrew Mack in an online column for Construction Business Owner (CBO). “Cross-laminated timber (CLT) factories hum, making it possible to build entire floors in days, not weeks. Yet in the U.S., mass timber often feels like a regulatory slog—adopted to meet carbon goals, not to spark excitement.”
As part of a grant-funded study in Europe, Mack (AIA, NCARB) interviewed builders of the world’s first timber skyscrapers. The Chicago-based architect is introducing the next generation of architects to mass timber through a course at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In “The US Needs a Homegrown Mass-Timber Industry,” Mack notes that Europe has outpaced the U.S. for years on mass timber design and construction. But that could change with streamlined approvals, more grants, and continued development of mass-timber infrastructure and technology. “Europe has shown what’s possible—curved geometries, hybrid systems, buildings that breathe,” Mack writes. “We can do more than just chase Europe’s lead on mass timber; we can take it.”
Mack offers three productive areas of focus for the U.S AEC sector.
Embrace hybrid construction
In the CBO column, Mack recounts his studies of hybrid structures in Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland that mix mass timber with materials such as glass, steel, concrete and aluminum. “Designers in Europe have realized that hybrid buildings can be used to overcome some of the disadvantages of pure CLT skyscrapers—such as the tendency of wood, when lying flat in a floor-to-ceiling connection, to compress like a kitchen sponge,” Mack writes.
Vertically oriented CLT walls do not suffer from this problem, which also can be prevented by sandwiching horizontal CLT surfaces between concrete or other materials. In addition, “wood can be so light as to lead to an uncomfortable degree of swaying on the upper floors,” Mack explains. “Architects have realized that they can use heavier materials to add mass and stability to the top of the structure. Think of an old-timey water tower in the Old West that is perched on three legs.”
Push for a domestic CLT network
As Mack sees it, the U.S. needs a homegrown mass-timber industry as well as more creative engagement with wood design and construction. He points to the way producers, universities and government agencies In Europe collaborate on timber innovation. At Austria’s KLH factory, for example, Mack saw producers and designers working together on projects.
To be sure, the U.S. is making progress on collaboration as well as sustainable, local sourcing for mass-timber construction. “Local wood could make mass timber as practical as it is beautiful, supporting communities, alleviating the housing crisis, cutting carbon and turning overgrown and/or underused forests into the backbone of a new architectural era,” Mack writes.
He encourages the AEC industry to educate lawmakers, zoning boards and economic development officials about this potential.
Keep advancing the tech
Lastly, Mack describes how “tech-intensive approaches to prefabrication can help U.S. designers and manufacturers further explore the creative potential of mass timber.” At Sara Kulturhus in Skellefteå, Sweden, he notes, “the Swedish company Derome prefabricated entire hotel rooms, made largely of wood, that were then transported to the jobsite and slotted into the building like shoeboxes onto a shelf.”
Here in the United States, meanwhile, companies such as California’s Fabric Mass Timber (FMT) are “developing specialized building information modeling (BIM) tools designed to connect fabricators and designers in ways that allow for greater customization of mass timber,” Mack explains.
He envisions an AEC industry in which a vast array of curves, coffering and intricate geometries are on the prefab menu along with studs, panels, walls and other essential building components. Mass timber “is as old as building itself, yet its potential continues to unfold,” Mack concludes. “The question is not whether we can build in timber, but how far we are willing to push it.”
Discover the latest trends and insights—explore the Business Insights Journal for up-to-date strategies and industry breakthroughs!
