TIMBER CONSTRUCTION FOR

TALL BUILDINGS AS
SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTION.
Ts. Muhamad Zaihafiz bin Zainal Abidin
PERCEPTION
 TYPES OF ENGINEERED TIMBER
• Glulam
• CLT
• LVL
 GLULAM TIMBER
• Glulam timber is essentially is a type of structural timber product composed
of several layers of dimensioned timber glued together.
• By laminating several smaller pieces of timber, a single large, strong,
structural member is manufactured from smaller pieces. These structural
members are used as vertical columns or horizontal beams, as well as
curved, arched shapes
• Connections are usually made with bolts or plain steel dowels and steel
plates.
• Laminated of smaller timber sections using glue can be regarded as further
extending the capabilities of timber.
• In mass housing, glulam roof beams can easily span 6 – 8 metres between
party walls to support timber rafters
• Glulam beams can also be designed to support RC floor slab thus further
reducing wet works in the project. If timber flooring is applied throughout,
then the project can almost be totally in dry and light construction.
• Glulam load-bearing structure and prefabricated modular flats, made from
engineered timber manufactured by Moelven Limitre using only Norwegian
wood.
• The concept involves the modules being stacked four storeys high, with
two platforms (above on the 4th and 9th floors) being anchored to the
glulam frame.
• These platforms are supported and reinforced by 3m-high glulam lattice
beams.
CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER (CLT)
 CLT
• Cross laminated timber (CLT) is a relatively new building material developed
in Austria and Germany in the early 1990s. It is made up of sawn lumber
planks laid out in orthogonal directions and glued together with structural
adhesives
• This creates a structural element that behaves like a twoway slab where the
longitudinal direction is the strong axis and the transverse direction is the
weak axis.
• CLT panels are manufactured in sections as wide as 10 feet and as long as
60 feet
• Used in panel eg wall or slab
• CLT construction isometric view
CLT
 LAMINATED VENEER LUMBER (LVL)
• Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is composed of multiple layers of thin wood
veneers, approximately 3 mm (1/8") thick, which are laminated parallel to
each other under heat and pressure.
• Slicing the timber into thin veneers and laminating them together reduces
the effect of imperfections in the wood, resulting in improved structural
performance compared to solid sawn timber members
• Especially use to construct beam, column and other structures
 WHY TIMBER?
• Timber is considered a renewable resource and the forests supplying timber
can offer a natural carbon sink;
• The resource extraction and manufacturing phases of timber products
demand a very low amount of energy relative to more conventional
structural materials used in construction; and
• Innovative timber systems designed for prefabrication and disassembly allow
for reuse of the material and a more resource-efficient product life cycle
than typical demolition and down-cycling.
• Possibility of offsite prefabrication and minimized onsite work allowing for
high-quality certified production, independent from weather and a rapid
erecting progress;
• Reduction of building weight, resulting in savings in foundation works when
compared to other construction materials;
• Ease of alteration onsite; and
• Increased flexibility in architectural design options.
 WHO HAVE CONSTRUCT IT?

eight-storey wooden building

The treets 14-storey luxury
factory
apartment
block
cross-laminated timber (CLT)
 TREETS

Structural system for the 14-

storey building will consist of
meter- thick glulam columns in a
stacked modular design
THE WATERFRONT, A 128-UNIT WOOD-
BASED RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN
STAVANGER, NORWAY
• Glulam trusses for this 5 story
complex in Norway in 2005.
This worked well and was
chosen as a basis for the
high-rise system
 14-storey luxury apartment
block in central Bergen,
Norway, will be the world’s
tallest timber-framed multi-
family project at 49 meters
(160 feet) breaking the
current record holder –
Melbourne’s Forté building –
which stands at 32 meters
tall.
2010. BARENTSHOUSE, KIRKENES,
NORWAY
CANADA HYBRID 34 STOREYS
TALL WOODS 30 STOREY
VANCOUVER CANADA

Structural system for the 30-

storey building will consist of
meter- thick glulam columns in a
stacked modular design
MALAYSIA?
• RM24mil with a built-up area of 3,700 sq metres is divided into three areas
exhibition hall, product gallery and administrative centre.
• This building pioneered the unique application of innovative engineered timber
products with the use of glulam as the main structure using various types of local
timber.
• This building will function as a showcase and referral centre forprofessionals such as
architects, engineers, contractors and all consumers and stakeholders including
government agencies like Public Works Department, Construction Industry
Development Board (CIDB), Ministry of Housing and Local Governments, other local
councils and private agencies.

• This project also symbolised the agency’s owner identity, implying the technology of
engineered wood (glulam) as the first building which conceptualised iconic timber
building shaped as half-umbrella.
•
• The main glulam portal frames used Malaysian Hardwood from Resak and Keruing
while the roof used Belian as shingles (estimated over 350,000 pieces). Besides, the
timber wall cladding are constructed from Kekatong and timber fins from Balau.
STRUCTURE OTHER THEN BUILDING
 CHALLENGES IN HIGH RISE
APPLICATION
Perception of Fire
Gaps in Knowledge
Risk

Connections
Contribution of Between Timber
Exposed Timber to Components and
Room Fires Timber Composite
Assemblies

Penetrations for
Gaining Approval
Services
ADVANTAGES
CHANGES EMOTION
PERFORMANCE OF FIRE
DESIGN FLEXIBILITY
 WHY TIMBER?
• Emotion change when in wood buildings
• Fingerprint of mother nature
• Low energy and green house effects
• 47% buildings
• 33% Transportation
• 19% other industry
• Trees give oxygen
• Wide span structure
• Light and low ratio to length and weight
• Higher strength per unit mass
• Glulam can be used as beams, rafters, ridge beams and even columns.
• spans are limited to 4 – 5 metres depending on the loading condition
• Has many types of structural timber such as LVL CLT
• Robust life cycle
• Carbon storage – 0.9 tonnes = 1m3
 TUTORIAL
• Explain what is engineered timber
• Explain the advantages of glulam
• Explain the advantages of this system
• Why the application of engineering timber still low in Malaysia