2018 Architecture Awards

81 2018 Architecture Awards Build city’s four universities, one of which (Edinburgh Napier University) is the UK academic leader in all things connected with wood science and technology, and to the recently established Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CS-IC), a major facility supported by the Scottish Government to enable prototyping of new products and systems with potential commercial value to the Scottish economy. At first sight, this may all seem narrowly provincial: however the work that Timber Design Initiatives Ltd is currently involved in with the new centre is a good example of the type of industry collaborations the company initiates, in this instance by bringing together CS-IC’s prototyping facility, the Centre for Offsite Construction and Innovative Structures (COCIS) at Edinburgh Napier University and the Glenalmond Timber Company Ltd, with the latter employed to grade, plane and finger-joint Tulipwood from the east coast of the United States. This has then been formed into hardwood cross laminated timber panels (a UK first) by CS-IC for use in the American Hardwood Export Council’s contribution to the London Design Festival 2018. Designed by Waugh Thistleton architects and Arup Engineers, the three storey ‘maze’ will stand in the Exhibition Road entrance courtyard to the V&A Museum in London, but only after rigorous testing by COCIS of the panel manufacture and specialist connections designed to make the structure demountable. This demonstration of highly advanced timber architecture and engineering will be seen by many thousands of visitors during September 2018 and by construction professionals throughout the world via websites, social media and other publicity and is likely to have a significant impact on industry perceptions of an entirely new use of hardwood (named ‘MultiPly’) in the ongoing development of solid laminate timber systems. Ultimately, with its education, innovation and demonstration objectives, Timber Design Initiatives’s raison d’etre has always been to look for ways to stimulate innovation in the use of timber in construction, and this will remain the firm’s ongoing focus as it looks towards a bright future. hand finishing of Tulipwood CLT panel (image: Carola Calcagno) gluing of lamella to form Tulipwood CLT panel (image: Carola Calcagno) View of the structure looking out of the V&A’s Blavatnik Hall into the courtyard. (credit:Forbes Massie)