The wooden building standing in London has been considered as the tallest wooden building in the world.Along with its total height of nine stories, wood dominates from the second level to the ninth story. Construction completed about three years ago, these fancy Graphite Apartments are built using engineered timber called cross-laminated timber. The CLT-based apartment is sturdy and uses up to five layers of wood to make it more fire resistant.
Wood is generally not considered to be feasible and this has been arisen as major question after construction of graphite wood apartments. Wood can easily capture the fire and this is not usually as much hard material for construction like concrete or iron metals. But this 29-unit structure wasn’t built along the same lines as an ordinary wooden house. Thick layers of panels measuring about 6 inches in density and up to 30 feet long ensure that it is able to resist fire better. Plasterboard covering has been used in this building to further cover its construction.
Due to wood incapability to bear the heavy loads and not appropriate to use at base, the architects of the Graphite Apartments used concrete for the base. This enables the building to endure the weight of the wooden units. The elevator shaft and stairways have been fitted with double walls and an insulating layer in between to offer more resistance against fire and sound proofing.
In Austria, these laminated spruce panels were designed and then shipped to London where bolting took place on-site. CLT, which resembles supersize plywood, covers all the interior walls, roof, floors, stairs and the elevator.
According to statements given by Timber Systems about timer wood, CLT is the ideal material to be used in construction. The company hopes to be on the forefront of cross-laminated timber production in the US and has already built a martial arts studio in Montana’s Whitefish. Since the wood was sourced from Austria which can drive up costs, Innovative Timber Systems is hoping to be able to produce the same in the United States to make it feasible for ordinary folks to go the eco-friendly way and use CLT for building their homes being eco-friendly.
There might be question about how chopping down wood can be termed eco-friendly? Innovative Timber Systems is hoping that its plan to produce CLT in its home country will address the issue of using beetle-infested pine trees that have been killed and only few remaining North American territories.