The Architect's Newspaper February/March 2020
www.archpaper.com
Third Annual Timber Issue:
The Future of Wood Design
Largest timber building in North America almost complete page 10
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Harvard GSD to host timber conference page 11
Studio Visit: LEVER Architecture page 12
New Geometrees
Emerging Voices
Meet the researchers who are shaping timber’s high-tech future.
Another crop of young talent from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico gets the spotlight in our annual partnership with the Architectural League of New York. See page 54.
BRUCE DAMONTE
UCL DESIGN COMPUTATION L AB
Learning from Japanese Structural Design
A review of Guy Nordenson’s book.
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ICYMI Eavesdrop Highlights Marketplace
Tall Tales
New ICC timber codes begin to be adopted around the United States. In early 2019, the International Code Council (ICC) officially approved changes to building codes that permitted timber structures as tall as 270 feet or 18 stories, an increase from the previous maximum of 85 feet. Although the changes are slated to go into effect in 2021, a few cities and states in heavily forested regions of the U.S. either have already adopted the changes or are facing pressure to do so. Oregon and Washington State implemented the taller code regulations in 2019, and the city of Denver will adopt them in 2020, with California likely to follow this year. Arguments in favor of making the changes cite both economic and environmental benefits. In California, for example, the resolution that proposed adjusting the regulations to the Office of the State Fire Marshal noted that “the increased construction of mass timber buildings in California can result in investment in California-based mass continued on page 10
2020 U.S. WoodWorks Wood Design Awards
Western architects’ fascination with Japan is indisputable, a tendency most famously personified by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright. Contemporary practices are contributing to what is perhaps the third or fourth wave of Japanese influence on American architects, and this group was the focus of the 2016 Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibition A Japanese Constellation: Toyo Ito, SANAA, and Beyond, organized by Pedro Gadanho and Phoebe Springstubb. There is something simple yet sophisticated in the examples of contemporary Japanese architecture selected for this exhibition—attributes one can trace to the synthetic nature of Japanese design itself. To accompany the exhibition, Guy Nordenson, a structural engineer and professor at Princeton’s School of Architecture, organized a symposium that sought to delve more deeply into Japanese design from the vantage point of the structural engineers who have collaborated continued on page 47
K AWAGUCHI MAMORU/COURTESY K AWAGUCHI & ENGINEERS
PETER VONDELINDE
Wood Construction
For case studies and the latest products, see page 27.
COURTESY SMARTL AM
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