PLYSCRAPERS
“The wooden future”
Skyscrapers made out of wood? It may sound
bizarre, unsafe and of course unrealistic.
Surprisingly though, wood seems to be the future of
construction. New terms such as plyscrapers have
already come up indicating the future of wooden
skyscrapers to be auspicious.
In an era when everything advances with the improvement
of science, stainless steel, self-healing
concrete seem to be the potential winners for being
the so-called future material of skyscrapers.
Wood was indeed used for construction since the
civilization of mankind.
The Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple in
China is one of the oldest examples of wooden
structures. It was built without a single nail, screw
or bolt. Wood is resilient under very rustic conditions
except for fire. Major catastrophes such as
the great fire of Britain shifted the construction industry
to reinforced concrete.
Then why timber again? It is due to the invention
of Cross Laminated Timber. Cross Laminated
Timber (CLT) or commonly known as super
plywood consists of several layers of kiln-dried
lumber boards stacked in alternating directions.
Structural adhesives are used for bondage and later
pressed to form a solid, rectangular panel. Ironically,
CLT is highly resilient for fire although wood
which is vulnerable to fire is the main raw material
for CLT. Moreover, wood (modified) has many advantages
as a construction material.
Page 54
University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine