WIA_ISSUE2_2023

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MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY Driving down the cost of entry into mass timber design Inefficient methods and insufficient education on mass timber design are making inexperienced engineers hesitant at building with mass timber elements like cross-laminated timber (CLT). Mass timber design software CLT Toolbox aims to eliminate the barriers to entry, as explained by Adam Jones, CEO and founder of the software company. By Yap Shi Quan 1 make timber design easier than with concrete or steel. In doing so, we are releasing major design bottlenecks to accelerate the adoption of mass timber in Australia, New Zealand, and gradually, the rest of the world. What are the features in the software, how exactly do they automate complex structural design computations for timber buildings? Jones: CLT Toolbox aims to be a one-stop shop for staying up to date with the evolving field of mass timber design with CLT design software. We bring together best-practice resources from around the world, and our calculations are third-party reviewed by timber specialists to ensure their accuracy. The software follows a rigorous review process to ensure the accuracy of the computations. Furthermore, the major requests from all engineers are for automated mass timber design software not to be a black box. Transparency is considered paramount given engineers are not taught at university. Engineers can follow the calculation processes and follow relevant references from the globe. CLT Toolbox also offers the ability to assign and discuss tasks, and hence engineers do not need to work in isolation. The platform also includes real-time supply chain data that can help engineers and fabricators to make informed decisions about the materials they use and the manufacturing process. What exactly does CLT Toolbox try to achieve? Adam Jones: Both the public and private sectors are making commitments on embodied carbon reduction targets. Mass timber is the logical alternative to traditional materials like concrete and steel and procurement methods. However, it is just too hard; there are several barriers to entry. CLT Toolbox aims to provide the infrastructure the industry needs to At the moment, CLT Toolbox has been released in Australia and New Zealand, but plans to be released to Europe shortly after. We will also be building the North American design codes into the software for a US release in mid-late 2024. We are currently building partnerships and relationships with the suppliers, who can also benefit from having the design infrastructure we are building in place. As such, we are acting as a conduit, being live software, to pass 38 WOOD IN ARCHITECTURE • ISSUE 2 – 2023
MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY on real-time information about section size and grades availability. Can you elaborate on the kinds of barriers to entry for sustainable and mass timber design? Jones: When an engineer faces the question, do I choose concrete, steel or mass timber, there are different paths. The status quo is easy and simple because it is taught at universities and everyone is doing it, and you will not look silly in a meeting. Mass timber currently, conversely, is arduous. At the moment, engineers are building excel spreadsheets to complete their designs, but spreadsheets are inefficient for multiple reasons: First, every engineering firm is building the exact same spreadsheets, thus reinventing the wheel; second, spreadsheets have a big chance of being incorrect for engineers designing their first time; third, mass timber is an evolving field which makes all previous spreadsheets redundant; and lastly, spreadsheets are not a web-based app, and hence cannot be directly linked to the supply chain’s availability. As such, CLT Toolbox replaces the need to build excel spreadsheets for a building’s design. Rather than starting from scratch, engineers can build off the computation routines offered in the software. The software also aims to provide the education that has been missing in universities. I once wrote a white paper on this problem space, called “Addressing major bottlenecks for the adoption of timber in the emerging mid-rise market”. The finding was that engineers are spending about 500 unpaid hours on their first mass timber jobs. This is the time spent learning mass timber design, building internal design spreadsheets, or learning the nuances of mass timber structural analysis. This defined the market problem CLT Toolbox is trying to solve, as it looks to drive down the cost of entry for engineering firms looking to design sustainably. The software is not a black box, so engineers can educate themselves alongside completing their first mass timber designs. Can you also elaborate on what the product roadmap for CLT Toolbox is? Jones: There is an evolving ecosystem in software for a fully automated stack. Part of this evolving ecosystem is parametric 3D tools that eventually plan to provide the design file utopian software stack. CLT Toolbox provides the mathematical infrastructure, with plans to use an application programme interface to plug into other software solutions. The software plans to be the best in the world at solving this specific problem for the design community. In your opinion, what do you think is necessary to make the built environment industry more sustainable? Jones: Global warming is one of the world’s major problems that can be solved through innovation and technology. Although the bounds of the future are inherently uncertain, we can maximise the potential of a positive future if we act proactively today. We plan to be a key part of the jigsaw puzzle that eliminates embodied carbon from the built environment for the betterment of humanity. But it is not easy. Operational energy can be solved with the sun — which is roughly 1,000 times the size of Earth — whereas embodied carbon can be solved only with one times of Earth. Therefore, it is an order of magnitude more difficult. It is reported that the building and construction sector accounts for approximately 39% of global CO2 emissions. Embodied carbon emissions from concrete and steel production contribute roughly 8-11% of total global CO2 emissions. This is in fact more than the cars on our roads. The construction industry therefore needs significant innovation. Mass timber can only represent a portion of the solution. Innovation needs to occur across concrete, such as with geopolymer cements, or steel with hydrogen used for virgin steel, to have a serious shot at the problem. CLT Toolbox plans to elevate all materials that contribute to our mission onto the software over time. WIA What a page of the CLT Toolbox software looks like WOOD IN ARCHITECTURE • ISSUE 2 – 2023 39
Page 1 and 2: www.panelsfurnitureasia.com ISSUE 2
Page 3 and 4: Build Sustainably Build with Wood E
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS 04 Editor’s Note 05 News
Page 7 and 8: NEWS PROTOTYPE AI METHOD FOR SUSTAI
Page 9 and 10: NEWS “WORLD’S LARGEST WOODEN CI
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Page 13 and 14: NEWS the millimetre-precise cone mi
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Page 17 and 18: BIG PICTURE Be it for musical, danc
Page 19 and 20: BIG PICTURE 2 3 1 The architects se
Page 21 and 22: BIG PICTURE 1 2 1 A language of pla
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Page 25 and 26: BIG PICTURE members. It was also sa
Page 27 and 28: ATTRACTIVE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CRO
Page 29 and 30: SUSTAINABILITY to be taken seriousl
Page 31 and 32: SUSTAINABILITY Embracing nature in
Page 33 and 34: SUSTAINABILITY These effects have b
Page 35 and 36: MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY Re-emerge
Page 37 and 38: MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY secondary
Page 39: MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY wood speci
Page 43 and 44: ENGINEERED WOOD Everything done rig
Page 45 and 46: ENGINEERED WOOD represented a gain
Page 47 and 48: DESIGN 1 2 LASER AND SURFACE TECHNO
Page 49 and 50: DESIGN 2 3 4 5 THE FOUR ASPECTS OF
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Page 53 and 54: DESIGN From our brand philosophy, y
Page 55 and 56: STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS The PULO market
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Page 61 and 62: FIT-OUTS Sandra Weil store 2 1 Cust
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Page 65 and 66: EVENTS CALENDAR 2023 2024 BEX Asia

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