When you think of a wooden house, what comes to mind? You can now say goodbye to that old house design and say hello to modern buildings. According to civil engineering experts, engineered wood guarantees sustainability and innovation in new buildings and promises to be the future of construction.
Countries like Norway, Switzerland and Australia are already betting on the material with surprising skyscrapers. The highest, which was in Norway, is 85 meters. In 2022, the Ascent, in the United States, surpassed it by one meter in height. To join this duel of giants comes Canada, where a tower over 100 meters high is being built.
According to the Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry (CBIC), the use of this method draws attention, as it is associated with ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), innovation, technology and the use of renewable resources in the industry. Furthermore, wood stores carbon and is more sustainable than concrete and steel.
Structural components such as beams, pillars and slabs can now be built in wood thanks to the technology of industrial processes used in the manufacture of engineered wood. As CBIC announced on its website, the fact that the material is light allows it to be used in vertical expansions, without the need for major reinforcements in the original structure.
Experts also state that buildings made of wood are prefabricated and only then taken to construction sites to be assembled. This ends up making the entire process cleaner and faster, also reducing energy and water consumption.
Another interesting point about this is that many people relate the use of wood for construction with deforestation, but that’s not exactly how it happens. The raw material, in this case, does not come from native vegetation, but from planted forests, which are cultivated exclusively for the sale of wood.
But perhaps the biggest question about the use of the material is: “but what if it catches fire?”. Currently there are special products that are applied to the material so that the fire does not spread. Experts also carry out numerous tests using engineered wood and fire. Basically, they build houses to burn and the result has shown good resistance.
A 2022 study by the scientific magazine “Nature”, released by G1, showed that if 90% of new city residents live in wooden buildings by 2100, the reduction in greenhouse gases will be 106 gigatons. Is this the future of construction?
( fonte: Katiuscia Mizokami/digital agro)
