The combination of digital technology and mass timber is revolutionising the way we design and build buildings, according to the panellists of our recent talk with Dassault Systèmes.
Titled How Virtual Mass Timber Extends and Improves Real Mass Timber, the talk explored how new digital design tools and material innovations are converging to create more sustainable buildings and cities.
In the talk, Jerry Jackson and Nuri Miller of software company Dassault Systèmes and architect Kirsten Haggart argued that the convergence of mass timber with a design approach called design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) is enabling architects, engineers and contractors to create buildings that are more affordable, higher quality and better for the environment. "I don't think it's too ambitious to say, it's like a new Bauhaus that we're approaching at the moment," said Haggart in the talk.

Above: The talk explored how new digital design tools and materials such as CLT are converging. Top: Brock Commons Tallwood House was the tallest mass-timber building in the world when it completed in 2016
Haggart is senior associate at London architecture firm Waugh Thistleton, which has pioneered the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) in buildings. The firm claims its Dalston Works office building was the largest CLT building in the world when it was completed in 2017.
CLT comprises layers of wood glued together at right angles and is one of the best-known types of mass timber, a broa...