Timber iQ December 2018 - January 2019 // Issue: 41 | Page 22

PROJECTS
The structure is made with the first UK-manufactured CLT panels.
66 000 homes. To increase supply to meet demand, industry
and the world must change the way it thinks and constructs.
MultiPly explores a new, more sustainable way of building,
marrying a readily available carbon-negative material with
modular design. AHEC, the leading international trade
association for the US hardwood industry, has collaborated
with several stellar architects including David Adjaye, Alex
de Rijke, Alison Brooks and now Waugh Thistleton – to
demonstrate the structural, aesthetic and environmental
properties of American tulipwood.
Tulipwood is sourced from the eastern US, where the
hardwood forest area is expanding at a rate of one football
pitch every minute, and already exceeds 110 million
hectares, equivalent to the combined area of France and
Spain. This makes the material both sustainable and
environmentally friendly, especially as it is one of the most
abundant American hardwoods.
CLT: MULTIPLY’S DRAWCARD
MultiPly makes use of a wood engineering technique known
as cross-laminating, where timber planks are laid
perpendicular to one another and glued together to form
very strong, stiff and stable panels. CLT has traditionally
been made of softwood trees, however, AHEC – together
with Arup – has experimented with CLT made from fast-
grown US tulipwood for the past decade.
The research and projects undertaken have proven that
weight for weight, tulipwood CLT is stronger than steel and
concrete and can be machined to incredibly high tolerances.
This makes it ideal for prefabrication and rapid assembly,
20 DECEMBER 2018 / JANUARY 2019 //
The three-dimensional structure encourages visitors to re-think
the way we design and build our homes and cities.
www.timberiq.co.za