Matter and surface
Cross-laminated timber
housing apartment building school offices rooftop extension
A solid panel of timber boards glued in crossed layers, almost always in odd numbers, that serves as a wall, slab or roof.
What it solves
The crossed layers give it stiffness in both directions and make it light against earthquakes. It stores carbon and arrives cut from the factory, which shortens construction.
Today
Protect it from rain during assembly and from contact with the ground, with eaves and a plinth. In the tropics confirm the termite treatment and let its faces ventilate.
Common mistake
Leaving the panels exposed on site until they get wet, stained and warped.
Tomorrow
Panels come out of CNC machines with windows, ducts and connections ready. Well-managed tropical plantations could supply local panels and reduce the use of cement and steel.
Fact In a fire timber chars at about 0.65 mm per minute, and that char layer protects the core, which keeps carrying the load.
Where it comes from
- 1Early patent Tacoma, United States, 1923
An early patent already described boards glued in crossed layers. - 2University research Austria, 1990s
A 1994 doctoral thesis laid the technical foundations, and in 1998 the panel was approved for construction. - 3High-rise building London, United Kingdom, 2009
A nine-story building made with this panel showed that timber could return to the dense city.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Matter and surface
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.