{"id":11205,"date":"2023-10-01T10:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T23:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=11205"},"modified":"2024-10-21T20:27:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T10:27:40","slug":"brazil-looks-at-large-scale-timber-solutions-for-housing-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/brazil-looks-at-large-scale-timber-solutions-for-housing-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil Looks at Large-Scale Timber Solutions for Housing Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brazilian architect Helena Tourinho is pushing for greater use of timber in social housing projects, with timber ideally suited for Brazil’s “large-scale and cost-effective social housing projects.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She points to cross-laminated timber and OSB panels, which <\/a>drive a global prefab construction surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Prefabrication offers advantages such as faster construction and a cleaner construction site environment<\/a>, which can be particularly beneficial for social housing projects.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Wood Central revealed that Brazil increasingly embraces timber for faster and greener buildings.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes resulted from the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards \u2013 or the ABNT \u2013 which published updated standards with a significant interest in industrial and commercial construction nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last week, Wood Central reported on Brazil’s Tecverde timber frame plant, considered one of the country’s most automated wooden frame companies, saving up to 85% in waste products and reducing CO2 emissions by more than 80%. (Photo credit: Tecverde Brazil)
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According to The Brazilian Association of the Mechanically Processed Timber Industry (ABIMCI), the new technical standard “is a significant achievement for the timber industry and the civil construction sector.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Ms Tourinho said that while wooden houses have a history in Brazil, they have ceded ground to concrete’s versatility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, timber is lighter than concrete; it demands less foundational support, resulting in greater cost efficiencies during construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is where timber can take centre stage as the primary construction material.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using “assembly” construction systems, builders have greater flexibility to reconfigure and expand spaces – a concept called incremental construction<\/a> popularised by Alejandro Aravena<\/a> in his work ‘Elemental<\/a>.’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This approach combines prefabrication using sustainable materials, which reduce the overall construction material required, with the potential for gradual expansions by residents themselves over time,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This integration addresses construction’s technical, economic, and symbolic aspects.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Hangar Museum in Brazil stands as a testament to the power of mass timber construction, showcasing the potential of sustainable materials and state-of-the-art design techniques in addressing complex climatic and structural challenges. (Photo credit: Pablo Casals Aguirre)
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Brazil is looking to mass timber, with recent examples of the latest McDonald’s Sao Paolo restaurant <\/a>and the Hanger Museum.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the country’s first high-rise building was constructed from imported Austrian CLT panels, locally sourced GLT columns, and beams for DENGO, a Brazilian chocolate manufacturer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil has great potential to supply engineered industrialised GLT and CLT products worldwide.  In late 2022, Urbem opened the country’s first combined CLT and GLT mass timber plant with a production capacity of 50,000m\u00b3 of CLT and 50,000 m\u00b3 of GLT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Urbem’s CLT and GLT production plan was opened in November 2022. (Photo Credit: Supplied by Urbem)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“From these volumes, it will be possible to build more than 500,000 m\u00b2 of sustainable buildings in Brazil and around the world,” Urbem said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether timber should be the primary choice for social housing depends on the extensive and detailed program requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Nevertheless, it should be a carefully considered option, and construction methods should be developed to accommodate it.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Urbem CLT construction process. (Image Credit: Supplied by Urbem)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Ms Tourinho, examples from abroad demonstrate the construction potential of timber systems without compromising aesthetics and finishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Universities, experimental sites and industry partnerships play a role in driving this shift in construction practices.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil’s vast pine plantations comprise two southern yellow pine species \u2013 slash pine (Pinus elliottii) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). In Brazil, they are called just ‘yellow pine’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pines have a combination of wood properties that permit use in a wide range of products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Forests play a crucial role in preserving and protecting Brazil’s ecosystems. (Image Credit: Supplied by Urbem)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This fast-growing group of species produces some of the most robust wood. Its high density gives it natural strength, weight, impact and wearing resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estimates obtained by Wood Central show forests in Brazil cover 9.5 million hectares, with 70.1% located in the country’s south and southeast regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the species planted are 7.3 million hectares of eucalyptus and 1.8 million hectares of pine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazilian architect Helena Tourinho is pushing for greater use of timber in social housing projects, with timber ideally suited for Brazil’s “large-scale and cost-effective social housing projects.” She points to cross-laminated timber and OSB panels, which drive a global prefab construction surge. “Prefabrication offers advantages such as faster construction and a cleaner construction site environment, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[51,3,38,37,39,48,49,43],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[69],"class_list":{"0":"post-11205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-americas","8":"category-architecture","9":"category-architecture-and-design","10":"category-building-and-construction","11":"category-mass-timber","12":"category-mid-rise-construction","13":"category-residential","14":"category-structural-wood-products"},"authors":[{"term_id":69,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"woodcentral","display_name":"Wood Central","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MASTER-BRAND-MARK_POS_RGB-e1676449549955.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MASTER-BRAND-MARK_POS_RGB-e1676449549955.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11214,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11205\/revisions\/11214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11205"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=11205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}