Wood In Architecture Issue 2, 2018

IN PERSON
Xiqu Centre opera house, designed by Revery's design principal, Venelin Kokalov, is to be featured on Hong Kong's new $100 banknote
Passionate about the positive social and
economic value architectural excellence
can bring to communities, allowing them
to thrive, Revery Architecture more often
than not integrates a wide range of uses
into the buildings they design, crafting
structures that are both vibrant and
sustainable.
LED TO SINGAPORE
Throughout Revery’s history, the firm has
stood out as a strong proponent for the
use of wood and other natural materials
in construction, regarding it as all but
second nature.
“When we were approached to participate
in a design competition for the new
Academic Building South at Nanyang
Technological University in Hong
Kong, which called for a building to
be constructed with an Engineered
Wood System, we agreed without
hesitation,” Yan had recalled. “But it
was working on the competition entry
that introduced us to Singapore’s
recent push for a renaissance in wood
construction.”
Soon after, Yan and his team of
architects met up with Mr Ang Kian
Siang, Group Director of the Building
and Construction Authority (BCA)
Environmental Sustainability Group to
familiarise themselves with the driving
forces behind the push.
“The main driving force was to
raise construction productivity and
fundamentally change the design and
construction processes where as much
work may be done off-site in a controlled
manufacturing environment as possible,”
Yan continued.
“But as this initiative is still relatively
new to Singapore, the knowledge within
the local industry is still in its infancy.
We see opportunities to bring our
knowhow to Singapore in a time where
designers are leveraging on the strength,
stability and design flexibility of mass
timber products to push beyond wood’s
perceived boundaries, achieving building
heights and spans that would have once
required concrete, steel, or masonry for
structural support.”
Presently, Revery Architecture has
begun sharing information with the
BCA, helping them better understand
what the Canadian wood industry can
bring to Singapore and started dialogue
with various local stakeholders and
manufacturers regarding partnership
opportunities.
Along with the more commonly known
glue-laminated timber and crosslaminated
timber, according to Yan, the
Canadian wood industry can now offer a
wider range of products, including naillaminated
timber, structural composite
lumber like laminated veneer lumber as
well as laminated strand lumber.
Most engineered wood products are
produced from pre-seasoned wood in wellconditioned
fabrication facilities. For a
difference in climates, Canadian wood has
been exported for use in other countries
with varying climatic conditions, and the
timber structures would be protected
within the building envelope designed to
shelter the materials from the elements.
Moreover, for mass timber structures
meant to be outside building envelopes,
there are coating systems which were
developed specially to protect them. On
top of that, there is also the option of
choosing a timber species more resistant
to weather.
“Transfer of wood technology from
Canada to other countries is not new,”
32 ISSUE 2 • 2018 • WOOD IN ARCHITECTURE