Engineered wood products in contemporary architectural use – a concise overview

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn their limited historical perspective, engineered wood products (EWPs) have traditionally only applied as construction components where a load-bearing function was required. This study provides a holistic perspective on wood's suitability and versatility within modern architectural practices. The traditional EWP concept must now be widened to include all types of wood-based components necessary within contemporary architectural design. The objective was twofold: firstly to give, from an architectural perspective, a description of the various uses of wood as a building material and design possibilities in contemporary architectural uses, and secondly, from an engineering point, recognising the pivotal role engineers play in translating these architectural concepts into timber engineering. By classifying wood and wood-based materials based on their “origin from production”, and classifying their main use as architecture elements, a widened view of wood as EWPs is hereby presented, i.e. a group of materials that embraces their whole spectrum of prospective uses with respect to specific purposes and performances, whilst related to specific properties, functions, and tactile performance.KEYWORDS: ArchitecturedesignEWPsstructural elementstimber Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency, Program P4-0015.