Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance
By Michael Green and Jim Taggart. Birkhäuser, 2017.
Architect Michael Green, FRAIC and sustainability expert Jim Taggart, FRAIC are on a mission to champion tall wood buildings. Striking a careful balance between the big picture and specifics, this book makes a strong case by carefully explaining why timber construction is important for the future, and delving into complex issues without oversimplifying or getting stuck in details. At times, the text verges on the pedantic in its implication that this is not only a possible scenario for new buildings, but the only truly sustainable option available today.
The book opens with an introduction that explains the fundamentals about how the carbon cycle acts for engineered wood products. This places emphasis on the importance of ?maintaining forest carbon stocks.? Detailed introductions to different types of engineered wood products follow, along with a chapter on how tall wood building projects have helped to change legislation in various countries. The addition of project photos in this section would have made it easier to follow the discussion; as it is, there?s a lot of flipping back and forth to the next section, which focuses on projects. This is where the book gets really inspiring. The book clearly shows the range of possibilities that timber construction allows through 13 best-practice case studies. These showcase different construction methods used in buildings...