Tomorrow's Timber - Towards the next building revolution

Tomorrow's Timber - Towards the next building revolution

In Tomorrow’s Timber, new timber innovations are explored, including the materials, products, elements and complete building systems, providing context for this emerging shift in design and construction. Inspiring case studies worldwide show that the mass timber revolution is happening as we speak. Tomorrow’s Timber contextualizes the challenges and how forests and mass timber can help solve our global problems by mitigating climate change while supporting the move to a less resource dependent, circular bio-based economy. Finally, the book tackles real mass timber design opportunities and challenges on building and site level, before providing a promising outlook towards the future.

Timber has evolved from a traditional building material to ‘mass timber’, an engineered high-performance product from which complete construction systems and even high- rise buildings can be made. Mass timber has the potential to usher in a three-fold revolution in the way we build.

• An ecological revolution because of the enormous sustainability benefits of mass timber over its non renewable, fossil-based counterparts.
• An economical, functional and technical revolution through the integration of ICT-based production technologies to support prefabrication of complete building systems in factories, increasing quality, safety and building speed.
• An aesthetic and well-being revolution made possible by the spectacular possibilities of parametric design and the substantial psychological and health benefits of mass timber.
• Abundantly illustrated, Tomorrow’s Timber covers all the above topics based on the latest scientific insights and statistics and lessons learned from practice. Also included are inspiring case studies from all over the world, which show that the mass timber revolution has already begun.

About the authors

Lead Author Pablo van der Lugt (PhD MSc) is a senior sustainability consultant for the wood and bamboo industry as well as a lecturer in Biobased Building at Delft University of Technology (Environmental Technology & Design). Previously he wrote Booming Bamboo, also published by Material District.

Co-author Atto Harsta (MSc) is an independent innovation consultant for the building industry and architecture with more than twenty years’ experience, focused on contributing to a healthy and circular built environment.