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Tall Wood: Why Wooden
Skyscrapers is a Good Idea
Wooden Textiles Transform
Wood into Flexible Surfaces
If wood rots, burns and isn’t great at handling
earthquakes, why build an 18-storey resident
building out of it?
German designer Elisa Strozyk brings new thinking to
the world of textiles. Her half-wood, half-textile
“wooden textiles” transform wood into flexible wooden
surfaces through a deconstruction into pieces, which
are then attached to a textile base.
Read More
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Check it out...NEW Sierra Website!
www.sierrafp.com
We built our new website with a goal of providing industry leading news, showcasing our product offering, and providing
the tools and resources our customers need.
Our full range of products and their technical specifications are shared, helping to guide your projects, and inspire
design. You will find news, resources, and company information, along with an inspirational gallery of projects we are
proud to have been part of.
We invite you to come and take a look, request a quote or place an order. We would love to hear your feedback, and
include your content.
Visit us at www.sierrafp.com or start a conversation with us on social media.
Watch for more to come!
Tall Wood: Why a Wooden Skyscraper is a Good Idea
“We are always asked why do we build in wood and there are three reasons. One, it supports UBC’s goals around
sustainability and innovation. Two, it provides learning and research opportunities for UBC students and faculty. Three,
it supports the local BC wood product economy as well as the local design community,” said John Metras, the
managing director of Infrastructure Development at UBC.
Perry Adebar, UBC’s civil engineering department head and an expert in high-rise concrete buildings, put it a different
way. “I’d love to see timber used more, but I’d hate to see it done for political reasons — I’d like to see it done for the
right reasons.”
In 2009, the BC government changed the building code, allowing wood buildings to be six storeys — previously, they
had been limited to four storeys. It’s part of a larger move by the wood industry and the BC government to put “wood
first.”
Outside of politics, wood is more sustainable. Its production produces less green house gases, wood holds in carbon
dioxide. Wood can be locally sourced — at least in BC — and, if forests are sustainably managed, do limited damage to
the ecosystems the timber is from.
“Concrete has got one big, giant problem and that’s the environmental aspect. When you produce Portland Cement [a
part of concrete], you release all kinds of carbon dioxide and, from an environmental perspective, it’s very bad,” said
Adebar. While the industry has responded, improved and become more sustainable, wood is still considered a greener
product.
UBC also decided to use wood as part of their “living lab” mindset — the idea that learning and research can and
should go beyond the lab. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability at UBC is using the project as a case
study for wood structure buildings. In an email statement to The Ubyssey, Angelique Pilon — the centre’s research
manager — explained they are working with UBC and the faculties of forestry and engineering on a range of “research
and educational projects” on mass timber buildings.
Courtesy naturally:wood
Forestry professor Frank Lam and Carlos Ventura, the director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Facility at
UBC, have teamed up to embed moisture sensors, seismic sensors and sensors to detect if the building deforms. While
Brock Commons is built to withstand earthquakes, moisture and small amount of deformation, the sensors will allow the
professors to collect data and better understand how tall wood buildings work.
Current knowledge is largely limited to computer modelling because Brock Commons is one of the first buildings of its
kind.
Wood construction is also beneficial to the BC economy. The wood for Brock Commons is from BC forests. The
company that built the CLTs and glulam — Structurlam Products — is based in Penticton, BC. The architecture firm,
engineering firms and construction companies that worked on Brock Commons are all BC companies too.
The provincial government has been pushing wood construction since before changing the building code in 2009.
Canada’s current Minister of Natural Resources, Jim Carr, said in a press release that “[Brock Commons is] an apt
demonstration of how Canada’s forest industry is finding new opportunity through technology and innovation — opening
up a world of possibilities for our forest and construction industries.”
This idea of ushering an era of British Columbian and Canadian dominance in forestry and wood construction was
echoed over and over again at a Brock Common’s press conference by members of the industry, wood lobbying groups
and politicians.
Whether building with mass timber is the future is something only time will tell.
Info Source: The BCYSSEY, Sept 2016
Wooden Textiles Transform Wood into Flexible Surfaces
Strozyk's wooden textiles are available in wentwood, mortimer, sherwood, and ashdown. They're made by cutting wood
panels into various shapes and patterns.
Depending on the geometry and size of the tiles, each design can exhibit a different behavior regarding flexibility and
mobility.
The shape and size of the tiling system allow for these different behaviors. A starting object, like a wooden carpet, can
be simply adjusted to form mountain range, ridges, hillsides, etc.
This allows for a number of interesting applications.
“There are various possible applications, for example as floorings, curtains, drapes, plaids, upholstery or parts of
furniture,” says Strozyk.
Info Source: Woodworking Network, September 19, 2016
Wood of the Month: Sipo
Color / Appearance: Heartwood is a uniform medium reddish brown. Well-defined sapwood is a paler yellow.
Generally lacks any dramatic figuring of grain that is common in the closely related Sapele.
Grain / Texture: Grain is interlocked, with a medium uniform texture. Moderate natural luster.
Endgrain: Diffuse-porous; solitary and radial multiples; large pores in no specific arrangement, very few; reddish brown
heartwood gum deposits occasionally present; parenchyma vasicentric, banded; narrow rays, spacing normal.
Rot Resistance: Rated as moderately durable to durable, with mixed reports on insect resistance.
Workability: Utile can be troublesome to work in some machining operations, (i.e., planing, routing, etc.), resulting in
tearout due to its interlocked grain. It will also react when put into direct contact with iron, becoming discolored and
stained. Turns, glues, and finishes well.
Odor: Utile has a mild, cedar-like scent while being worked.
Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, Utile has been reported to cause skin irritation.
Scientific Name: Entandrophragma utile
Pricing / Availability: Not frequently available, prices for Utile should be moderate for an imported hardwood.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, but is on the IUCN Red List. It is listed as
vulnerable due to a population reduction of over 20% in the past three generations, caused by a decline in its natural
range, and exploitation.
Common Uses: Furniture, cabinetry, veneer, boatbuilding, flooring, and turned objects.
Comments: Sometimes called Sipo Mahogany, or simply Sipo, Utile is in the Meliaceae family, and is somewhat
related to the true mahoganies found in the Swietenia genus.
Janka Ball Hardness Rating
By comparison Alder is
Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC)
1180
590
0.53, 0.63
Info Source: www.wood-database.com, www.wikipedia.org, www.houzz.com
Photo courtesy of DeVos Custom Woodworking
Sierra Forest Products
13575 Benson Ave, Chino CA
United States 91710
Tel 1 800 548 3975
909 591 9442
[email protected] | www.sierrafp.com
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