archited
Senior Member
There are a number of wood products that are going to change the outlook for construction, particularly for a City like Edmonton. Mass Timber is one of the wood categories that can redefine construction, especially if the Alberta Building Code and the Canadian Building Code are modified to allow Mass Timber structures up to ~25 storeys in height. Two Alberta native species in particular will shine in the change -- Lodgepole Pine and White Spruce. Also with the advances that have been made in Cross-Laminated Timber aligned with Glulam construction techniques there will be some beautiful possibilities (I feel that when these catch on in a major way and the relevant codes are updated, most low to mid-rise structures -- especially in the realm of housing -- will become immediately outdated from an Architectural Design perspective. Beyond that there is a new product that will be hitting the marketplace this fall that will be an even greater game-changer -- A product called SuperWood that will be licensed through a company called InventWood out of Virginia (disclosure: I am in discussions with InventWood to open a plant in the Edmonton area that would use Alberta forest products for a Canadian Market and, in my case, for a project that I am working on in Alberta). To discover more about SuperWood and InventWood here is a relevant url -- https://www.inventwood.com . On a strength-to-weight Ratio comparison it is 10 times stronger than steel; it is carbon captured (and made from nature's most carbon-sequestering system); it is resistive to corrosion, mildew and rot; and it naturally retards fire. Put all of these together and Edmonton could be at the forefront of a new construction boom that uses wood as the powerful architectural design element that it can be.
