Mass timer buildings are prefabricated structures made of (hopefully renewable) wood. The pieces are made in a factory and then able to be quickly constructed together on-site.
This can hopefully greatly reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere from producing a building. The cost of producing buildings in this method is also going down. Additionally, these mass timer buildings are typically more dense than single family homes, which can lead to more sustainable communities.
*Robots and humans to build Canada’s 9-storey timber tower together
Mass timer buildings are prefabricated structures made of (hopefully renewable) wood. The pieces are made in a factory and then able to be quickly constructed together on-site.
I’m sure the factories are jobless as well. And the trucks that bring in the individual pieces. And nobody ask who is doing the safety inspecting or plumbing and electrical hookups, since they don’t count, either.
Beginning to think all this talk of automation is a shell game.
It’s easier to make passenger jets now than in the bronze age. Automation reduces the necessary amount of labor even if it doesn’t eliminate it entirely.
They must have updated the title, because it now says “robots to help build…”
Now all they need to do is build a robot to complain about inspections and permitting
Why aren’t those windows aligned with each other, this is very upsetting.
Designed by AI? Remember the crazy hands? Maybe this is just the “house version” of the six-fingered hands.
I think it’s because the building isn’t actually a rectangle shape. It tapers outwards as the height goes up. Agreed thought, the windows not having symmetry is very annoying to look at.
I didn’t notice it before, but now I can’t unsee. 😭
Aren’t buildings made of lumber limited to 4 stories? And for good reason? Is that like a US only rule?
Wood can do very well in compression and can do vertical loads quite strongly. This a 25 story wood building using the new mass timber method. You can’t do that with just 2x4s from home Depot of course. https://www.dezeen.com/2022/08/03/ascent-tower-milwaukee-worlds-tallest-timber-building/
TIL about timber
Not exactly. “Mass timber” is a newer construction material made from wood, but put together in a way suitable for tall buildings, including structural elements for skyscrapers. Currently, the tallest timber skyscraper is the 25-story Ascent MKE building in Milwaukee.
The fire safety challenges are real, though. It’s just that timber as a building material has different characteristics. It’s under a lot of study from fire safety researchers, as they work out the tradeoffs and how to best mitigate the weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
And it’s not all bad. Timber is actually stronger than steel at high heat, and the beams don’t contain voids that allow fire and flames to travel along the structural elements as steel or concrete elements might. So the key is that the engineers need to design things with the timber’s properties in mind.
It looks like they’re still using I beams and steel for the structure. The wood is for panneling & walls.
Yes, though it really depends on the city. They all have different rules. It’s interesting how zoning rules shape a lot of how North America looks.
One type of building that’s becoming more common are “five over one”, where you build one floor with concrete and then floors over with wood. These buildings have gathered criticism for being super generic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-over-1
Mass timber is a new method of construction, so cities have been updating their laws to reflect it.
Those 5 over 1 depicted look better than the concrete shoeboxes around here
I don’t trust people to not burn it down.
So psuedo commie blocks but slightly more eco friendly and capitalist.
I mean I guess? What’s so bad about commie blocks?
I didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. Commie blocks weren’t perfect, but they were a massive success.
It would be even quicker but for every robot doing the work you need six others holding clipboards to watch it.
Giant tinderbox. Fuck that shit
Denser housing doesn’t lead to more sustainable communities, it leads to more insanity. Even grouped single family houses start to be awful with hoas and shit.
Higher density leads to:
- Less concrete use
- Less power consumption for heating/cooling
- Less power lines needed
- Shorter distances for power lines
- Less sprawl
It absolutely makes sustainable communities.
I live, and has lived for most of my live, in a big and dense city, one of the biggest in the eu. I lived, for a few years, also in a small village (~2k-3k people) that’s now my (adopted) hometown. The city is definitely much more concrete heavy than the village. My sister still lives there in a much bigger home than me and her utility bills are identical to mine even given that I’m not at home half of the days for work or visiting her, so no the power consumption is much more dependent on the quality of the buildings. The other points are probably right, but I prefer the power lines to the rats and cockroaches, the garbage piling up on every corner, the smell, the noise, the crazies and junkies (we have those in my small hometown too but not even near in quantity or ‘quality’).
I get the impression that all the proponents of these ‘high density’ housing ideas haven’t lived in a high density working class area ever, and probably wouldn’t last long if they get themselves in one.
the power consumption is much more dependent on the quality of the buildings.
To a degree yes, but a larger HVAC system that cools 100 apartments is going to be more efficient that 100 window units. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s far easier to fix when it’s all one building.
I get the impression that all the proponents of these ‘high density’ housing ideas haven’t lived in a high density working class area ever, and probably wouldn’t last long if they get themselves in one.
I live in the heart of a major city in a large apartment building complex that has about 90 units. I don’t have rat problems, cockroaches, or junkies around. The walls are soundproofed well, so I don’t deal with any more noise than a suburb.
You’re confused about the source of your problems.
Excuse me if I’m wrong but central hvac system, the word ‘complex’ instead of just ‘apartment building’, no junkies, soundproofed walls… doesn’t sound like ‘working class high density housing’ to me. At least that’s not a thing where I’m from.
Now a ‘major city’ without rats and roaches??? It has to be a cold as fuck city, definitely not a thing in temperate climates.
doesn’t sound like ‘working class high density housing’ to me.
It sounds like your arbitrarily gatekeeping this.
Now a ‘major city’ without rats and roaches??? It has to be a cold as fuck city, definitely not a thing in temperate climates.
It’s temperate.
The worst HOAs are in low density American suburbs. The most healthy communities are always high density working class neighborhoods - the sort that keep getting gentrified into oblivion because everyone wants to live there.
I live in a ‘high density working class neighborhood’ in a big dense city, and have for most of my life except some years I moved to a small village. Certainly not healthy, I would be even hard pressed to call it ‘community’. ‘Rat race’ or ‘crab bucket’ seem more appropriate.
The least energy intense communities are dense communities.
This is a step in the right direction.
Some issues are solvable with better architecture but developers don’t make money on it, many only build for the landlords. Stuff like good soundproofing between separate units, both a lift and multiple staircases in bigger buildings, visual variation between buildings or parts of buildings so people don’t get lost or stir crazy, outdoor spaces with both vegetation and useable areas.
Depends on your city, but many need more medium-density, not go straight from terraced housing to seven floor buildings.
I always forget that you Yanks have things like HOAs, and can’t keep chickens or paint your house the colour you like.
Don’t you have the freedom to leave the Home Owners Association, or set up your own one?
Edit: apparently it’s in the EU. I only really know British and to a lesser Chinese housing stuff. China does have HOA style stuff.
Not a yank, as you’ve already discovered. But to answer your question, I don’t know about suburbs and the like, my experience is only with apartment building hoas and no, you can’t leave them. The thing is part of the property is shared–like corridors, stairways, lifts, any space that is not a home, even the facades…
With blocks of flats I can kinda make sense of them existing, similar to how China has them for all the gated communities.
I’ll choose to wallow in anti-Americanism and assume that only they’re mad enough to have them for suburban collections of discrete, seperate, house style properties.
