Timber iQ December 2018 - January 2019 // Issue: 41 | Page 21

PROJECTS
MultiPly tackles two of the
current age’s biggest
challenges – the pressing
need for housing and the
urgency to fight climate
change and gracefully
attempts to offer an
innovative solution – it
presents the fusion of
modular systems and
sustainable construction
materials as an answer.
Given that it is built out of
modules, the pavilion can be
taken apart and reassembled
into a new home in any given
location. According to Andrew
Waugh, co-founder of Waugh
Thistleton Architects, the main
ambition of this project is to
publicly debate how
environmental challenges can
be addressed through
innovative, affordable
construction.
A studio that has been at
the forefront of wood
construction for decades,
Waugh Thistleton Architects
has pioneered the innovative
use of timber in the built
environment. Acknowledging
buildings’ impact on the
environment, the studio
practices sustainability in the
widest sense of the word,
focusing not solely on energy
in use, but on embodied
energy and longevity.
“We are at a crisis point in
terms of both housing and CO 2
emissions and we believe that
building in a versatile,
sustainable material, such as
tulipwood, is an important
way of addressing these
issues,” explains Waugh.
A SOCIAL AND
SUSTAINABLE GIANT
43m 3 of tulipwood that makes up MultiPly stores the equivalent of 30t of carbon dioxide and is
replaced with natural growth in the American hardwood forest in just five minutes.
www.timberiq.co.za
To keep up with population
growth and deal with years of
under supply, about 250 000
new homes would need to be
built in the UK every year.
During 2016/2017, 184 000
new homes were built in the
UK, a shortfall of about
// DECEMBER 2018 / JANUARY 2019 19