Timber Design & Technology Middle East - December 2015

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December 2015 | Issue

MIDDLE EAST

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www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

Tall wood buildings are gaining momentum around the world Observation House offers the ideal balance between privacy and views in Bulgaria American hardwoods widely celebrated at the inaugural ‘Dubai Design Week’ Studio MK27 explores the duality between opaque and transparent at the Mororó house Market value of the MENA design industry surpassed USD 100 billion in 2014

ANALYSIS

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INTERVIEWS

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DESIGN

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December 2015 www.timberdesignandtechnology.com SUSTAINABILITY | TECHNOLOGY

Farlin group of companies are vertically integrated with an established presence worldwide in timber logs, sawn timber, plywood, panel products and coal for energy sectors.

T: +971 4 8809889 F: +971 4 8809779

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Timber Lobby | Image © Lee Grant

December 2015 Issue 23 DIRECTOR Andy MacGregor publisher@citrusmediagroup.net +971 55 849 1574 MARKETING DIRECTOR Eric Hammond marketing@citrusmediagroup.net +971 4 455 8400 INTERNATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR James Hamilton james@timberdesignandtechnology.com EDITOR Tony Smith editor@timberdesignandtechnology.com INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT Eamonn Ennis eamonn@timberdesignandtechnology.com +91 98676 54952 INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Rabia Alga AntExpo Org. | Turkey +90 216 541 0390 rabia@antexpo.net ELIAS AGGELOPOULOS Med Expo | Greece +30 210 2931011 info@epipleon.gr Timber Design & Technology is published 6 times a year

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EDITOR’S NOTE Regular announcements about tall wooden buildings, government grants and wood products research is changing perceptions about wood’s potential all across the globe. Growing recognition of timber’s environmental benefits as well is fueling a renaissance in the construction of multi-storey structures using wood. With 17 tall wood buildings (7 storeys or taller) having been built over the past 5 years, serving as demonstration projects, building officials, designers, contractors and consumers are more than confident in the safety of these buildings.

We start the issue off with an in-depth look at the Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington, which has been described as the greenest commercial building in the world. Significantly, at the heart of this state-of-the-art structure lies a heavy timber frame - a traditional building system that is increasingly being used in new and innovative ways. The architects wanted a sustainable building that would last 250 years and this is just one of the reasons why they chose wood.

Launched at the inaugural Dubai Design Week, the MENA Design Outlook study was commissioned to capture the design landscape across the MENA region with a focus on five major countries which are key contributors to the region’s design sector. According to the report, the design industry in the MENA region surpassed USD 100 billion in 2014 and is expected to continue expanding at an average growth rate of 6 percent. With the furniture and interior design sectors accounting for the widespread use of timber, we take a closer look at the findings of the report.

Timber was also widely celebrated, in particular American hardwoods, at the Dubai Design Week. A series of installations and product displays across Dubai highlighted the growing demand and widespread acceptance of American hardwood species by the design community in the UAE at the annual citywide event, which aims to place Dubai on the map as the emerging design capital of the world. Whilst great strides are being made in wood technology, it is the creativity and inspiration of the design community that will ensure wood realizes its full potential. Overall, the Dubai Design Week provided a unique and exciting opportunity to see some of the very best creative talent and served as a platform to celebrate design and champion all the good work that is being done using timber.

This issue also throws the spotlight on the winners of the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition, who were announced earlier this year in New York. The two winning development teams were granted a combined USD 3 million in funding to support the development of tall wood demonstration projects in New York and Portland, Oregon. Next-generation lumber and mass timber products have enabled longer wood spans, taller walls, and higher buildings, and continue to expand the possibilities for wood use in construction, as evident in the winning proposals.

As always, I would like to encourage you to log on to the website - www.timberdesignandtechnology.com - for the latest updates and please get in touch if you have any suggestions for subjects we should consider covering. In closing, I would like to thank our advertisers, our partners and our readers as we look to 2016 and the realization of our expansion plans for the magazine.

Image © Fernando Guerra

CONTENTS

06 News

38 COMMENT

The latest industry news from within the region and around the world

Tall wood buildings are gaining momentum around the world

12 SUSTAINABILITY

46 TECHNOLOGY

Wood shines in sustainable ‘Show & Tell’

Barberio Colella ARC unveils earthquake-relief timber housing that pops up in ‘Just a Minute’

18 MARKET REPORT

50 WOOD WORKS

Market value of the MENA design industry surpassed USD 100 billion in 2014

Ross Lovegrove celebrates 125 years of Bernhardt Design with ‘Anne’ chair

24 ANALYSIS

58 INTERVIEW

American hardwoods widely celebrated at the inaugural ‘Dubai Design Week’

interzum Guangzhou to provide a quality ‘onestop’ trading platform for manufacturers and buyers within the industry

DESIGN & DÉCOR

TALL TIMBER

SHOWTIME

28 Mororó House

32 Observation House

42 U.S. Tall Wood

54 Preview

Studio MK27 explores the duality between opaque and transparent at the Mororó house

Observation House offers the ideal balance between privacy and views in Bulgaria

U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition winners revealed

A preview of the top industry exhibitions coming up this season

6

NEWS

Image ©John Gollings

Image © Ross Honeysett

TIMBER LOBBY IN AUSTRALIA TITLED ‘WORLD INTERIOR OF THE YEAR 2015’

The sculptural timber lobby and utilitarian bar at the Hotel Hotel in Canberra, Australia, was awarded the ‘World Interior of the Year 2015’ at the World Architecture Festival. The design involved an interior filled with recycled timber, concrete beams and steel panelling. Moreover, in the lobby, over 5,000 wooden offcuts were fixed around the walls and ceiling. The lengths are supported by steel rods that run from floor to ceiling, while more reclaimed timber was used to create a grand staircase.

A series of fractured timber pieces line the walls and furniture to create a tunneling effect that leads guests from the reception through to the main areas of the hotel. The hotel’s reception area leads through to the bar. In both of these spaces, concrete beams were used to create stacked tables and surfaces. They also extend outside to create a seating area. Other details include circular skylights, a large fireplace, a screen punctured by marbles, and a feasting table that divides into different sections.

Hotel Hotel sits in the environmentally thoughtful, pineapple shaped Nishi building, within Canberra’s arts and culture precinct, NewActon. Nishi is a cluster of highly mixed-use buildings, made up of office, hotel and residential quarters.

Leading up to Hotel Hotel from Nishi’s office quarter is the Grand stair.

It is a geometric explosion of more than 2,250 timber pieces salvaged from the Nishi building site itself, a basketball court and a house. The stair was designed in collaboration between Molonglo Group, March Studio and Oculus, and built by artisan carpenters over five months.

The hotel and residential quarters are an interlocking geometric structure from the exterior, constructed from off-form and pre-cast concrete. These quarters were created by Molonglo Group in collaboration with Japan’s Suppose Design Office, FKA and Oculus. Its internal atrium is populated with Antarctica dixonia ferns salvaged from Tasmanian forests destined for deforestation.

Judges described the project as “a masterful integration of awkward residual spaces into a seamless and delightful interior. The choice of raw elements gives a warmth and familiarity mixed with the excitement of the unexpected,” they said. “They combine to make a powerful but not overwhelming series of spaces.” The repurposing of the timber in the lobby grabbed the judges’ attention for what they described as a “poetic use of leftover materials (to create a) powerful but not overwhelming result.”

The first-ever LIGNA Conference will make its debut at the Hannover Exhibition Center’s Robotation Academy from May 3 - 4, 2016, one year out from the next LIGNA fair. The conference theme will be ‘Integrated production in woodworking - the way towards Industry 4.0,’ and the event is being organized by Deutsche Messe and the German Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers’ Association. The conference is specifically targeted at decision makers from the woodworking trades and the furniture, building products, interior finishing and timber construction sectors. Integrated production, which was also the keynote theme of this year’s LIGNA trade fair, has proven to be a major talking point among exhibitors, visitors and the media.

“LIGNA reflects and continually adapts to the defining trends in the global market. Our focus on meeting the needs of our target groups and highlighting the key challenges facing the industry has made LIGNA the world’s leading trade show for plant, machines and tools for the woodworking and wood processing industries. The Industry 4.0 theme we chose for this year’s show resonated very strongly among all the stakeholders, and this encouraged us to launch this new conference for the non-LIGNA years,” explained Christian Pfeiffer, the Director in charge of LIGNA at Deutsche Messe.

The two-day conference will explore the intelligent integration of production and logistics processes and the practical benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies for users of woodworking machines. It will also feature real-life www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © LIGNA

FIRST EVER LIGNA CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN MAY 2016

case studies that illustrate the wider benefits to the timber and furniture industries of integrated production systems - the ability to manufacture customized products at competitive prices, for instance. Digitalization not only impacts companies’ production processes, it can also profoundly change their long-term strategies. That’s why next year’s conference will also take an in-depth look at future business models.

NEWS

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HOMAG GROUP AIMS TO REACH THE EUR 1 BILLION MARK IN SALES REVENUE IN 2015

Image © HOMAG

HOMAG Group AG, the world’s leading manufacturer of plant and machinery for the woodworking industry and for cabinet makers, has held its good course steady through the third quarter of 2015. The Dürr Group affiliate grew its order intake between July and September 2015 by about 11 percent to EUR 257.2 million (prior year: EUR 231.4 million). Sales revenue increased a good 12 percent to EUR 259.8 million (prior year: EUR 231.4 million).

In the first nine months of 2015, the HOMAG Group was able to boost its order intake by almost 11 percent to EUR 814.7 million (prior year: EUR 735.0 million) while sales revenue increased more than 15 percent to EUR 763.9 million (prior year: EUR 661.9 million). “Our performance in North America and Western Europe was particularly good,” CEO Pekka Paasivaara explains.

The HOMAG Group has revised its forecast for the full twelve months of 2015 upward, and now aims to break the EUR 1 billion mark in both order intake and sales revenue (previous forecast: order intake of between EUR 940 and 960 million, sales revenue of between EUR 950 and 970 million).

As Pekka Paasivaara points out: “This means that for the first time in the company’s 55-year history, we are looking to generate sales revenue of more than one billion euro.”

Image © Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions

The UAE is home to nearly 36 percent of the furniture factories of the GCC, reflecting the growth in the domestic furniture sector and increase in demand for imported timber from global and regional markets, according to the organizers of the Dubai WoodShow, the largest exhibition in the Middle East for timber, machineries and tools.

Dawood Al Shezawi, CEO, Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions, organizers of the Dubai WoodShow quoting the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), points out that the GCC furniture industry includes 1,062 factories, which recorded a growth of 4.5 percent over 5 years. Al Shezawi added that the number of home and office furniture factories in the Gulf region saw a dramatic increase, which positively reflected on the growth of the timber sector.

Dubai WoodShow, the biggest wood and woodworking machinery industry trade show in the Middle East, is set to host a larger number of exhibitors in its next edition to be held from April 4 - 6, 2016 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center. Following an impressive turnout of 10,544 trade professionals from 95 countries last year, the exhibition has attracted even wider variety of products from global brands.

“The 2015 edition recorded a 26 percent increase over the previous edition, and we have completely sold out the exhibition space. Dubai WoodShow 2016 will be more diverse in terms of exhibitors’ portfolio and

Image © Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions

UAE HOME TO 36 PERCENT OF FURNITURE FACTORIES IN THE GCC, AND CONTROLS SIGNIFICANT IMPORTS IN TIMBER SECTOR

products,” added Al Shezawi.

The Dubai WoodShow 2016 is set to expand its range of products to include hardwoods & softwoods, wood machineries & tools, flooring, plywood, veneer, MDF, laminates & boards, finishings & fittings, paints, adhesives & glues, and others. It will also be open for retail shoppers and end users.

“The timber industry is booming with the ongoing construction activity in the region. Moreover, there is a growing demand from local furniture manufacturers who find in the annual Dubai WoodShow a platform for clinching mega deals onsite,” added Al Shezawi.

Dubai WoodShow brings together building materials suppliers & dealers, importers, exporters, furniture manufacturers, contractors, developers, machinery manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, dealers, flooring companies, architects, interior designers, as well as associations & institutions. The exhibition welcomes visitors from countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran, Kuwait, and China plus many others.

“Every year we witness the launch of new technologies introduced to this region for the first time through Dubai WoodShow. We could not be more delighted with the demand from the exhibitors for the 2016 edition, most of whom are looking to expand presence in the UAE through local investors,” concluded Al Shezawi.

December 2015

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NEWS

Image © 3XN

ACCOYA SELECTED FOR ROYAL ARENA IN DENMARK

Accoya®, the world leading modified wood, is being used to construct the façade of the Royal Arena in Denmark’s capital city. Danish architecture firm 3XN were appointed to design the state of the art arena in the historic capital city of Copenhagen. The arena is being built to host a variety of international events such as performing arts, sports matches and concerts and will be able to seat 12,500 people, with additional capacity for 15,000 standing.

The architects’ aim is to create a building that will stand the test of time and as result specified Accoya. Around 250 cubic meters of the high performance modified wood will be used to create the entire façade of the arena, which is due for completion in late 2016. To complement the façade 3XN have designed ‘fins’ to give the building a unique wave-like semitransparent style. The fins have been made from a variety of materials, including Accoya and provide extra light, texture and elegance to the building.

Accoya has been recognized for its environmental standards worldwide by

independent assessors, and Accsys Technologies holds a host of ecolabels to demonstrate the green credentials of Accoya, including the Swan label.

Accoya is a Swan label product as it’s carbon negative over its full life cycle, and it’s both fully reusable and recyclable.

Jan Ammundesen, Senior Partner with 3XN Architects said: “Durability and aesthetics were key issues driving the material selection for the fins on the new Royal Arena in Copenhagen. The Accoya fins will create a dynamic pattern and contribute to a warm and natural appearance of the facade.”

Laura Ladd, Head of Marketing at Accsys Technologies said: “The Royal Arena is an impressive project and it will be exciting to see it once it’s complete. It’s inspiring to see architects adhering to the principles of sustainable development and aiming to reduce the carbon footprint. The use of Accoya has satisfied the requirements for a highly durable yet eco-friendly material and really shows why Accoya outshines its competitors.”

SPOTLIGHT ON CANADIAN WOOD PRODUCTS The Government of Canada in conjunction with the Quebec Wood Export Bureau (QWEB) and Natural Resources Canada recently hosted two seminars in Dubai and Doha, which were tailored to provide architects, construction consultants, designers and other construction sector representatives from the region, with a deeper and more comprehensive knowledge about the applications of wood in building solutions and design. The seminars enabled delegates an opportunity to expand their understanding about how wood’s design flexibility, makes it a suitable material for a wide range of building types and applications, both structural and aesthetic.

The ‘Designing Inspiring and Sustainable Wood-based Buildings and Interiors’ seminars served to highlight Canadian wood products and advanced wood building solutions to architects, designers and developers www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

in the GCC region. Canada is a world leader in wood technology, forest management and environmental stewardship, and these events connect perfectly with other initiatives that the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates support in the increasingly important areas of sustainability and alternative green building solutions.

A panel of expert speakers shared their expertise and insights on new building technologies and the applications of engineered wood products such as glued laminated timber and cross-laminated timber (CLT) in modern construction. They also highlighted the attributes of Canadian wood products in construction, as well as their appearance applications. Further, delegates were also afforded the opportunity to interact with the speakers and obtain recommendations and ideas on durable ways of using wood when building in the climate conditions prevalent in the Gulf region.

NEWS

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Image © MTC

WORLD RENOWNED TIMBER EXPERTS INSPIRE AT MTC’S CONFERENCE

For the first time, masterminds behind some of the most unique timber structures in the world such as the Endless Stair, Metropol Parasol, Center Pompidou-Metz and TREET, gathered in Kuala Lumpur to inspire Malaysians on the wonders of timber in architecture and its vast potential in the construction industry as a whole. Andrew Lawrence, Juergen Mayer-Hermann, Rune Abrahamsen, Jonas Lencer and Frank Miebach shared their invaluable experiences with some 350 participants comprising architects, engineers and students at the Malaysian Timber Council’s (MTC) international conference entitled ‘Wood Architecture - Art & Function’.

Aimed at showcasing timber’s vast potential in architecture and the construction sector, the conference also sought to tackle misconceptions about one of the oldest and under-appreciated building materials known to man. The conference was officiated by YB Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, who shed light on the importance of the timber industry in the socio-economic development of Malaysia.

“Malaysia has been supplying timber-based products to 160 countries worldwide, contributing up to 2.7 percent to the country’s export earnings.

In 2020, that contribution in revenue is anticipated to double. Therefore, in order to ensure that our goal is achieved, an adequate and sustainable supply of raw material is pertinent for the further development of the timber industry,” said YB Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

“Playing a key role in the lead up to attaining this goal is ‘education’, to ensure that industry members and stakeholders embrace the use of timber in their building designs. This is why I believe that the conference was indeed timely. We need to address our concerns and issues surrounding timber in construction, dispelling myths and misconceptions, in order for Malaysia to create more progressive and exciting timber structures,” added Embas.

The Honorable Minister also launched a guidebook on timber decking, which is a part of MTC’s efforts to promote the wider use of timber in building construction. Timber decking is popular among property owners due to its versatility and aesthetic qualities. It also adds value to a property.

‘The Guidebook for Timber Decking in Malaysia’ is an excellent handbook on building a timber deck. It provides comprehensive information on a deck’s components, planning and design considerations as well as timber choices. The guidebook also provides details on the installation and maintenance of a timber deck for a long shelf-life.

In his welcome remarks, Datuk Dr. Abdul Rahim Nik, MTC Chief Executive Officer, said ‘the availability of new technology in timber construction has paved the way for a new range of engineered materials and components, creating endless possibilities for timber in the architecture, engineering and construction sector’.

“We are happy that we are able to bring the cream of the crop to share their experiences and inspire Malaysians with their accomplishments,” said Abdul Rahim. “It is our goal to proactively support, educate and present timber’s many technical qualities to the local construction industry players – that timber is renewable, carbon neutral and responsive to advanced engineering technology. Its inherent beauty, strength and durability make it one of the best building materials.”

Following the international conference, MTC in partnership with The Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) also held a workshop entitled Designing with Timber - An Architectural Perspective, specifically for architecture students on 25 November 2015 at UiTM Puncak Alam. Speakers Andrew Lawrence and Jonas Lencer shared their experiences and ideas at the workshop while providing a platform for students to discuss the challenges involved in building with timber.

December 2015

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

10 NEWS

‘THE CABIN’ BY KHALID SHAFAR

Image © Khalid Shafar

Image © Khalid Shafar

The fourth edition of Emirati Expressions opened in November and is set to explore the relationship between art and social life. Khalid Shafar designed ‘THE CABIN’ - a cylinder shaped structure veneered with teak - which draws its inspiration from the history of the United Arab Emirates during the life of its former president the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

According to Shafar, a mysterious ship lays abandoned on the land of the Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht club. No one seems to really know its story or where it came from. Many have speculated on the ship’s history, but one story has some credence through an old black and white picture on the yacht club manager’s office wall. It shows the ship, gifted by Kuwait in the early 70s, being used by Sheikh Zayed as a viewing deck to watch sailing races and to receive and entertain guests.

Visitors to THE CABIN will experience being between the sea and land where the eye, not finding a horizon, moves upwards to discover the jeweled space above. The installation has been designed to represent

the body of that mysterious ship. The first experience the visitor has is the feeling of being on land where a sculpted carpet captures the desert sand’s wind rippled smoothness and being surrounded by shades of blue.

THE CABIN responds to the reality of a ship that never sailed. A ship that remained docked on the seashore all its life.

Looking up the visitor experiences the faceted ceiling that is made from more than 418 wool Agaals wired together. This alludes to the many men who came to the ship to view the sailing races together. A men-only space reinterpreted by a ceiling made of a man’s attire. In both spaces, aboard the ship back then and in the installation now, the visitor’s view is different and the way we view is changed as well. The function back then and here now is similar, yet they are different spaces - here history has been reinterpreted.

THE CABIN then is an interactive space that brings the visitor back to the untold past but seen. A space of many experiences but one function only; viewing.

Swedish Wood will be announcing the 12th Swedish Timber Prize, in Sweden entitled ‘Träpriset’, architecture award on March 9, 2016. The jury has considered the 139 entries that were submitted by the deadline in January 2015. The competition is open to any type of structure, as long as wood forms a significant part of the design. It has to be fully completed, no more than four years old and available for the Swedish Timber Prize jury to visit.

The entries have been judged for the way they broadly meet the requirements of good architecture. The focus is on the actual site and the way the building relates to its surroundings and context. The Swedish Timber Prize jury has also considered materials and details, and how various functions have been resolved. Plus the use of wood, of course!

“The quality of the materials and construction techniques has moved on quite considerably, as has interest among architects and private individuals.

Changes are quite slow to occur in the construction industry, but looking back we can see that a great deal has happened since the award was first established in 1967,” said Per Bergkvist of Swedish Wood, who has been responsible for the Swedish Timber Prize since 1992.

Since the Swedish Timber Prize was first launched, a wide variety of buildings have won the award. The Tomtebo forest sauna outside Gävle won the award in 2012 and was designed by Meter Arkitektur in collaboration with their clients the Seitola-Gunnarssons. Before that, in 2008, Swedish Timber Prize went to the housing development Östra Kvarnskogen in www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © Åke E: son Lindman

SWEDISH TIMBER PRIZE TO BE AWARDED IN MARCH 2016

Sollentuna, designed by Brunnberg and Forshed Arkitektkontor on behalf of Folkhem.

The winner of Swedish Timber Prize 2016 will be awarded in Stockholm and will receive the Swedish Timber Prize statue and a prize of SEK 100,000.

All the nominated entries will also be presented in the book ‘Architecture in wood - The 2016 Swedish Timber Prize’ and in a touring exhibition.

Sustainable Softwoods America’s forests produce over 80 million cubic metres of sawn timber a year, making America the largest timber producer in the world.

Modern forest management ensures that felled trees are replaced and that every year more wood is grown in US forests than is harvested. 1.6 billion seedlings are planted in the US every year, equal to 4.4 million trees every single day of the year. As a result, the US has more trees today than 70 years ago.

People you can do business with info@americansoftwoods.com

12 SUSTAINABILITY

Wood shines in sustainable ‘Show & Tell’ Bullitt Center’s heavy timber frame teaches environmental and structural lessons

Described as the greenest commercial building in the world, the Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington pushes the envelope in urban sustainability. The six-storey, 52,000-square-foot structure is designed to meet stringent requirements of the Living Building Challenge (LBC) - using photovoltaic cells to generate enough electricity to sustain the needs of its tenants, recycling its own water and waste, and reducing energy use by more than 80 percent compared to an average office building.

Significantly, at the heart of this state-of-the-art structure lies a heavy timber frame - a traditional building system that is increasingly being used in new and innovative ways.

“The Bullitt Foundation wanted to do something that would have the biggest impact in terms of changing the building industry,” said Brian Court, Project Architect with The Miller Hull Partnership. “So they shouldered the tremendous research costs to develop this prototype and see just how far we could take a building in an urban environment. We wanted a sustainable building that would last 250 years. That’s just one of the reasons we chose wood.”

“Energy efficiency gets a lot of attention on this project, but we have been equally excited to learn more about heavy timber as a structural system; discoveries we made while conducting life cycle assessments on various structural

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

systems. Timber has so many great qualities from an aesthetic point of view that its environmental virtues are sometimes overlooked,” adds Court.

Sustainable structure, sustainable community It’s hard to separate the goals of the project from those of its sponsor organization. The Bullitt Foundation’s mission is ‘to safeguard the natural environment by promoting responsible human activities and sustainable communities in the Pacific Northwest.’ The Bullitt Center was designed to be the world’s most energy-efficient commercial building and to meet the highest benchmark of building sustainability

- LBC certification, which defines measures of sustainability through development and construction.

The goal of the Bullitt Center is ‘to change the way buildings are designed, built and operated; to improve long-term environmental performance; and to promote broader implementation of energy efficiency, renewable energy and other green building technologies in the Northwest.’

“We also wanted to lower CO2 emissions and reduce the environmental footprint of the building,” said Court. “Our 250-year target life cycle is a key part of that goal.”

Bullitt Center basics The first thing most people notice

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Image © Nic Lehoux

Image © John Stamets

Image © John Stamets

SUSTAINABILITY

is the building’s roof, oversized to support enough photovoltaic cells to power the entire building. But closer inspection finds that many of the building’s most unique features lie inside.

The six-storey podium structure (four floors of wood over two storeys of reinforced concrete) is built with a Type IV heavy timber frame. The frame’s Douglas-fir glulam beams and columns, finished to an industrial appearance grade, range in size from 5-1/8 x 15 to 121/4 x 21 inches.

A solid 2x6 dimension lumber wood deck forms the floors; the 2x6 #2 Douglas-fir members were set on edge and then nailed to one another to form a solid panel, 5-1/2 inches deep. Similarly, the roof

We wanted a sustainable building that would last 250 years. That’s just one of the reasons we chose wood. deck is comprised of 2x4s nailed together. CDX plywood is used for roof and floor diaphragms and for some wall panels.

Challenging material requirements LBC requirements stipulated that the Bullitt Center’s design and construction team meet a number of criteria, including responsible site selection, 100 percent on-site renewable energy generation, 100 percent of water needs provided by harvested rainwater, and on-site

waste management.

Materials acquisition was one of the toughest challenges because all building materials, including the lumber, plywood and glulam, had to meet LBC criteria. This meant that all of the wood, including the lumber that comprised the glulam beams and columns, had to be certified as 100 percent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

In addition, achieving LBC certification required that all wood products come from mills within about 600 miles of the job site.

December 2015

“While the LBC has some flexibility, the goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of materials,” said Court.

“So, if you have to go outside the allowable radius to source some materials, or if you have to trade off some FSC Mix wood with 100 percent, the LBC is somewhat flexible.” Materials such as steel and concrete had to be manufactured within 300 miles of the site.

Besides limiting the allowable distance for building material transport and requiring that all wood materials come from FSCcertified forests, LBC criteria also prohibited the use of 14 materials and 362 chemicals. The ‘Red List’ is comprised of toxic finishes including materials such as PVC, lead, mercury and other substances, www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

14 SUSTAINABILITY many of which are commonly found in building components.

“While the LBC standards are constantly evolving, the overall goal remains constant,” emphasized Court. “Reduce the amount of energy it takes to create building materials and get them to the job site, and reduce the use of toxic materials within the structure itself. Naturally, wood met those requirements on a number of levels.”

renewable resource, and because glulam makes efficient use of the material by bonding smaller pieces of dimension lumber together to form larger beams and columns, glulam was a logical choice over concrete for the Bullitt Center.

According to Brian Oberg of the Calvert Company in Vancouver, Washington, the project required approximately 119,000 board feet of Douglas-fir industrial appearance grade glulam beams and columns.

“To keep them all natural and avoid banned chemicals from the Red List, we did not fill knot holes with putty,” said Oberg. “While lumber costs vary with the market, the decision to use FSC 100 percent lumber typically adds about 15 to 20

Glulam - a natural framing choice Because wood is a sustainable, www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

percent to the cost of the beams.

We cut some of that expense by going to an industrial grade beam rather than a more expensive architectural appearance grade.”

To protect the beams during Seattle’s soggy construction season, they applied a wax-based finish, which also had to be vetted in relation to the Red List. They chose a sealer with low-VOC off-gassing and none of the chemicals or compounds that are prohibited in a Living Building.

Mike Warnek, with Matheus Lumber Company in Woodinville, Washington said his team provided detailed shop drawings showing the location of each beam on each floor, which allowed them to make

sure that everything was accounted for. “Our big fear in all this was that we would forget something,” said Warnek. “It’s not easy to find FSC 100 percent material that meets Living Building Challenge criteria on short notice for a forgotten beam, so the cost of doing the shop drawings was money well spent.”

The requirement to use FSC 100 percent certified products, coupled with the fact that the wood had to be sourced within 600 miles, meant planning was critical.

“My biggest takeaway from the project is to allow enough time,” said Warnek. “Material acquisition was not difficult, but it could not be done at the last minute. My recommendation for future projects

Image © Nic Lehoux

Ironically, the Miller Hull design team originally expected to design the Bullitt Center using a reinforced concrete frame, because they thought they needed it for thermal mass. “In fact, we didn’t go into this thinking we’d do it with heavy timber at all,” Court said. “But when we considered the embodied energy and the carbon footprint of the concrete, timber was a much better environmental solution. When you consider the carbon sequestered in the timber itself, you have a carbonpositive building solution.”

He added that, by using wood, they were also able to reduce the interior finishes. “That’s where you find most of the toxic ingredients, such as paints and varnishes. By using a timber frame, the interior was essentially finished as it was assembled. There are great advantages to that - both in terms of cost savings and health benefits.”

Wood also made more sense from an architectural point of view.

“We think buildings should identify with the region; they should look like they belong in place,” said Court. “We love timber here in the Northwest. We love it as architects; we love expressing the structure and connections of a building.

Timber was not necessary to make this building happen, but we think wood gave it a unique regional place-based attribute.”

For many reasons, Court and other architects at Miller Hull try to use wood as much as possible.

“We’ve done quite a bit of heavy timber design, but mostly with twoor three-storey structures,” he said.

“So we learned a lot about using wood in a taller structure like this.”

Image © Nic Lehoux

Why wood

December 2015

SUSTAINABILITY

15

is to allow eight to ten weeks to source FSC 100 percent lumber.”

Dimension lumber provides energy advantage

Image © John Stamets

Image © John Stamets

In order to minimize the building’s energy footprint, the design required high ceilings and tall windows to let in as much natural daylight as possible. Miller Hull’s unique use of 2x6 dimension lumber, set on edge and nailed in place to form the solid wood floor panels, provided an unusual design advantage in the quest to meet LBC criteria.

“Base zoning height for this site in Seattle is 65 feet, but the City directed a number of agencies to be flexible with existing codes,” said Court. “The zoning office told us they would grant us an extra 10 feet of building height if we could show that doing so helped us achieve the goals of the LBC. In our case, we were able to show that by raising the standard 11-foot-6-inch floorto-floor height to 14 feet, we could improve daylighting.”

Court explained that the general rule of thumb is that, for every additional one foot of height on the perimeter of the building, daylight penetration increases by two feet. “So by getting an extra two feet in our floor-to-floor height, we got an extra four feet of daylight penetration,” said Court.

“And by having relatively shallow floors - achieved by using the solid 2x6 wood floor panels instead of deeper floor joists - it allowed us to increase the daylight penetration even further. Plus, the 2x6 deck easily spans the 10-foot-6 inch dimension, effectively eliminating the need for a perimeter beam. This allowed the windows to extend all the way to the bottom of the decking, improving daylighting even further.”

Pushing performance boundaries

Image © John Stamets

While the building pushed performance boundaries in a number of categories, traditional building products like plywood still played a key role. Lee Zulch, senior superintendent for Schuchart, the general contractor, said wood also helped them meet their criteria in a number of other applications.

“While the plans only called for ½-inch plywood on the roof for December 2015

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

Image © Benjamin Beschneidet

16 SUSTAINABILITY

lateral shear, we used ¾-inch plywood, which made it easier to screw in the huge photovoltaic panels.”

They also used plywood for backing panels on some walls, and installed ½-inch plywood to the floor assembly on top of the 2x6s for structural diaphragm. The floor panels were covered with an insulation mat to serve as a noise barrier, followed by three inches of concrete topping slabs on each floor to provide thermal mass and facilitate Miller Hull’s natural ventilation and night flushing strategies. Night flushing is an energy-saving strategy used to flush hot air out of a building during the evening, to naturally cool elements with thermal mass within the building and blow out stale air.

The concrete slab also contained embedded radiant heating and cooling coils.

Simply functional timber frame connectors When it came to design and installation of the glulam beams and columns, the design team had a number of criteria for connectors.

“We looked early on at a knife plate system which would have been more architectural, but it was expensive,” explained Court. “We needed something that could be easily and quickly installed on site,

Timber has so many great qualities from an aesthetic point of view that its environmental virtues are sometimes overlooked so we value-engineered it back to a bucket connector. We also wanted to use screws instead of bolts.

And it all needed to connect to the internal steel brace frame for lateral stability.”

The resulting heavy timber frame and bucket connector system was simple and straightforward. “Each beam was cut to length on site and then lifted by crane and placed into the buckets without the need for temporary shoring or scaffolding,” Court said. “Framers then fastened the beams to the bucket connectors using ¼-inch diameter SDS screws instead of the typical larger, bolted connections to save time and eliminate the need to pre-drill the beams. The screws could be installed closer to the end of the beam, which gave us a smaller, simpler connector with a more elegant, minimal expression.”

The innovative design of the buckets, which Schuchart’s crew called helmets, resulted in smooth erection. “The timber frame went up quickly and efficiently,” said Zulch. “Our crane lowered each beam into the steel helmets for a snug fit. The buckets were pre-

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

slotted, so our crew just screwed them into place with a hand-held drill. It was fast and simple.”

Court added, “Typically, designers like a concealed connection but I like this better because you can see the connection, you can understand the building; it shows the integrated design process. When you have the architect, contractor and structural engineer all sitting around the same table like we did, you get a system that is as efficient as possible.”

Easy design solution to avoid shrinkage Another noteworthy aspect of the connection is the steel post standoff. “When designing a timber building, architects and engineers need to know that wood shrinks slowly over time and can be compressed if loaded perpendicular to the grain,” explained Court. “If you’re not careful, your building can shrink, up to half an inch per floor. This adds up quickly when you have multiple floors and makes it difficult to detail a high performance envelope.”

To avoid this issue, Schuchart

crews inserted a steel tube to connect the top of one timber column to the bottom of the next.

Therefore, any radial shrinkage in the beams and girders will not impact the columns. “The result is a timber-frame building that should not shrink and settle over time,” said Court.

Natural fire protection One of the great virtues of a heavy timber structural system is the natural fire resistance inherent in the size of the wood members.

“We know that wood burns, but it does so at a relatively slow and predictable rate,” explained Court.

“So, were there ever to be a fire in the Bullitt Center, the timber would char, allowing plenty of time for occupants to vacate and the fire department to arrive.”

Additional fire protection is gained by the fact that the bucket connectors were installed so that main girders bear directly on the timber columns that support them from below. “In the event of a fire, even when the steel buckets are weakened by heat, we still have timber bearing on timber and the beams will not fail,” said Court.

“Each of the four beams passing through the bucket connection has about three inches of material bearing directly on the column below.”

SUSTAINABILITY

When the Bullitt Foundation challenged Court and his associates at Miller Hull to design a building with a life expectancy of 250 years, they did so knowing that comparative costs would be impacted, since commercial office buildings are typically designed with a 40- or 50-year lifespan.

The total project cost for the Bullitt Center was estimated at USD 30 million, or USD 577 per square foot - about double the cost of a comparable building. But this includes all of the soft costs (i.e., design fees; land; negotiations with local, state and federal regulatory agencies; research and other fees).

Construction costs were about USD 360 per square foot of the total; about USD 50 per square foot more than a typical commercial building, but in line with many institutional projects.

“People have a strong reaction to the USD 577 figure, but we’re trying to change laws about how rainwater can be used and how graywater can be treated and used in commercial structures,” said Court. “We’ve spent time working with the local utility companies to change laws on how photovoltaics can be used and how renewable energy can be

generated. So there are a lot of issues we’ve had to deal with on this project which won’t factor into future projects. Plus, we’re not just building to code minimums here; we’re trying to do it right. And there is a difference.”

Court expects hard construction costs to change over time because, with the Bullitt Center, they were forced to use products selected by transport radius and Red List

hold attraction for prospective tenants, most are attracted to the Bullitt Center for bigger reasons.

Court is convinced that these global issues will continue to matter to more organizations. “As clients, regulatory agencies and certification programs like LBC or LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) increase their influence on material and structural system selection, I think

Were there ever to be a fire in the Bullitt Center, the timber would char, allowing plenty of time for occupants to vacate and the fire department to arrive guidelines rather than cost. “We couldn’t always use the least expensive product because of toxicity. But as more of these types of buildings come on line, I am confident that costs will also come down. The Bullitt Center’s initial construction costs are higher, but over its 250-year life, it’s going to be a money maker. This is a structure that essentially has prepaid utility bills for the life of the building.”

Wood is on target for the Bullitt Center While prepaid utilities certainly

we will see more wood buildings.

By increasing our understanding of the material growing in the forest - this renewable, natural resource which is sequestering carbon and has all these great environmental benefits - I am certain that timber will become much more in demand as a building system.”

Life cycle assessment will certainly have an impact. “More people are paying attention to life cycle assessment, and wood is coming out as the winner when it fits within the structural criteria for the project,” Court said. “In fact, I

think one of the things we learned with the Bullitt Center is that wood has the structural capability to do way more than we’re letting it do right now. People need to look at wood with fresh eyes, especially because it has so many environmental virtues over concrete or steel.”

Court said he was told that the Bullitt Center was the first six-storey heavy timber project permitted in Seattle since the 1920s. “A lot of people were surprised to learn that a wood structural system was possible here, but this project helped them learn about wood’s environmental advantages in terms of embodied energy and life cycle assessment.

Wood really outperforms steel and concrete in the right applications.

With this project, we think perceptions about wood are going to change.” *The Bullitt Center case study was developed by WoodWorks-Wood Products Council (www.woodworks. org). WoodWorks provides free project assistance as well as education and resources related to the code-compliant design, engineering and construction of non-residential and multi-family wood buildings in the United States.

Project Details Project Name The Bullitt Center

Owner

Bullitt Foundation

Date of completion 2013

Architect

The Miller Hull Partnership

Contractor

Schuchart Construction

Structural Engineer DCI Engineers

Developer Image © Benjamin Benschneider

Building cost is an investment in the future

December 2015

17

Point32

Certification

Design, materials and construction practices met all criteria of the living building challenge 2.0

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

18 MARKET REPORT

Market value of the MENA design industry surpassed USD 100 billion in 2014

The Dubai Design and Fashion Council (DDFC) recently revealed the results of the MENA Design Outlook, a ground-breaking study across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that highlighted the impact of the design sector on economic growth and its role in driving innovation.

The announcement was made on the first day of the inaugural Dubai Design Week, held in October earlier this year. Delivering the keynote address, Dr. Amina Al Rustamani, Chairperson of DDFC, was joined by notable industry leaders including Nez Gebreel, CEO of DDFC; Mohammad Saeed Al-Shehhi, COO, d3; and Emmanuel Durou - Partner - Monitor Deloitte; who discussed the impact of the findings on the region’s design industry.

Her Highness Sheikha Latifa Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “The MENA Design Outlook report is the

first of its kind evaluation of the design landscape in the region and the results of the study underline the remarkable growth achieved by the design industry and its contribution towards the economy. The findings also point to tremendous new opportunities for

comprehensive initiatives including Dubai Design Week, the city is firmly positioned to be a fast-rising global design capital.”

The MENA Design Outlook was commissioned to capture the design landscape across the MENA region with a focus on five major

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are by far the largest overall design markets in the region, respectively totaling USD 27.6 billion and USD 21.9 billion in design revenues in 2014, followed by Qatar and Egypt design professionals in the region as it is now poised to embrace both seasoned and upcoming designers with vast market opportunities within the different design segments. Dubai is driving this positive change in the design scene and with studies such as this and

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

countries which are key contributors to the region’s design sector - UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Lebanon. The research findings demonstrated the vast potential, depth and progressive growth rate of the MENA design industry.

According to the report, the market

value of the design industry in the MENA region surpassed USD 100 billion in 2014 and is expected to continue expanding at an average growth rate of 6 percent, twice the pace of the global design sector, and by 2019, its contribution to the global design sector will reach 5.2 percent. The study also found that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are by far the largest overall design markets in the region, respectively totaling USD 27.6 billion and USD 21.9 billion in design revenues in 2014, followed

by Qatar and Egypt.

“Our wise leadership is committed to providing new prospects of development and progress in order to drive innovations that will unleash the potential of our youth and reinforce the UAE’s goal to occupy leading ranks regionally and internationally.

Undoubtedly, the UAE plays a vital and leading role and is committed to supporting other countries in the

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20 MARKET REPORT

EXHIBIT 1:

New spirit of collaboration between consumers and brands leading to innovative design partnership

2 CONVERGENCE

The borders between retail, hospitality, design fields and entertainment are blurring offering new combinations of design fields

CONSUMERS

CORPORATIONS

GOVERNMENT

City dwellers reject the impersonal 'bigness' of globalization, adopting new consumption behaviour

3 RURBANISM

region and contribute, in various ways, to its development and prosperity. We at the Dubai Design and Fashion Council are constantly striving to provide the necessary platforms to develop the design sector and foster up and coming talent in Dubai and the region,” said Dr. Amina Al Rustamani.

According to the report, the design sector has been a subject of growing importance globally as governments and organizations across numerous cities, regions and countries are realizing the value and potential of design segments within their local economies. While design industries themselves have been drivers of wealth and jobs for centuries, there has not been a universal and standardized view of design as a distinct sector of the economy. In MENA, creative

DESIGNERS

The design sector has been a subject of growing importance globally as governments and organizations across numerous cities, regions and countries are realizing the value and potential of design segments within their local economies

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

industries have played a prominent role in the cultural and economic development of the region for centuries, renowned for its unique aesthetic in art, calligraphy, music, poetry and literature, Arabic style architecture, woodworking and a range of crafts and jewelry.

While there is a growing consensus globally on the need to define and classify the design sector so it can be standardized, there is minimal coordination on an international scale as to what December 2015

segments are included in the sector and how to account for their economic value. At present, there is no common framework or classification for the design sector across the MENA region.

According to most established or formal classifications of the design sector, there are four segments which are common across all or most classifications, namely: Interior Design, Industrial and Product Design, Fashion Design and Graphic Design. These have been

Image © MENA Design Outlook

1 CO-COMMERCE

IMPACT

TOP 3 MACRO TRENDS THAT WILL AFFECT THE MENA DESIGN LANDSCAPE

included in the MENA design sector classification.

In order to capture the trends and market data in these significant categories, and considering their relevance in MENA, both Architecture and Visual Arts have also been included as part of the MENA design sector classification. The report includes all digital design and graphic design activities under the umbrella of communication design. Further, Industrial and Product Design has been intentionally limited to three sub-segments which have been deemed particularly relevant for the MENA region: Furniture Design, Lighting Design and Marine Design.

Lastly, emerging design trends such as social design, experiential design and food design are also covered in the report as a space to be watched

MARKET REPORT going forward.

Commenting on the findings of the study, Dr. Amina Al Rustamani added “As the Government amplifies its efforts to transition towards a knowledge-based economy driven by innovation, we recognize the need to accurately capture the depth of the design sector and develop adequate benchmarking. The MENA Design Outlook provides us with a snapshot of the current status of the market and identifies key challenges and opportunities. The insights from this report will enable us to shape the way forward in making Dubai the emerging design capital of the world.”

Globally, the growth of the design market has been estimated at 3.7 percent from 2010 and 2013 (higher growth rate than world economic growth), boosted by

urbanization, a rise in population, increase in disposable income for design led products and a boom in High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI).

In the MENA region, the design industry is gaining grounds: its market value has surpassed USD 100 billion in 2014 and it has grown at more than double the pace of the global industry over the last 4 years (7.4 percent CAGR for MENA market versus 3.7 percent CAGR for the global market). The report estimates that the MENA design market constitutes over 4.5 percent

21

the largest overall design markets in the region, respectively totaling USD 27.6 billion and USD 21.9 billion in design revenues in 2014. The third and fourth largest markets are Qatar and Egypt, both representing around half of the Saudi market.

From a growth perspective, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the fastest growing design markets in the region, having respectively experienced between 2010 and 2013 a growth rate of 9 percent and 11 percent.

According the report, the MENA architecture market is inherently tied to the health of the construction sector, which has been driven in part by public sector projects for a number of countries, mainly in the GCC. While the construction market has started to gain confidence since the real estate slump starting in 2009, the

of the global design market, valued at USD 2.3 billion in 2014 for the design segments covered.

All in all, the MENA region’s outlook is very positive: the sector’s growth is expected to continue outperforming the global design industry. With an average growth of 6 percent, the MENA Design industry will grow at twice the pace of the global design sector and by 2019, its contribution to the global design sector will reach 5.2 percent. In absolute numbers, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are by far

With an average growth of 6 percent, the MENA Design industry will grow at twice the pace of the global design sector and by 2019, its contribution to the global design sector will reach 5.2 percent

EXHIBIT 2:

OVERVIEW OF DESIGN DISTRICTS - GLOBAL VS. MENA ARAB DESIGN STUDY: commissioned by Dubai Design District (d3)

GLOBAL The creative and design industries are key contributors to the economy, particularly in mature markets.

GDP AND EMPLOYMENT

GLOBAL MARKET VALUES

GROWTH

3% GDP CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

DESIGN

MEDIA

$500 bn

$2.3 tn

ICT

$3.7 tn

3.7% GROWTH in the global market value in design segments between 2010 & 2013

Providing employment for roughly 6 MILLION people

In the MENA region, the design industries have grown at a faster pace than global.

DESIGN SEGMENT GROWTH

7.4%

in MENA in design segments, reaching $110 bn by 2014

CAGR

10% 5% 0%

DESIGN SEGMENT

91%

DESIGN market in the MENA region is driven by:

FASHION

FURNITURE

MENA GLOBAL

‘10

‘11

‘12

‘13

‘14

‘15

‘16

‘17

‘18

MENA GLOBAL

FASHION

FURNITURE

ARCHITECTURE

69%

12%

59%

18%

ARCHITECTURE

11%

8%

9% 14% OTHER*

* interior design, lighting, graphic design and visual arts

Source: Deloitte Analysis

December 2015

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

Image © MENA Design Outlook

MENA

22 MARKET REPORT

EXHIBIT 3:

MENA DESIGN MARKET OUTLOOK USD BILLIONS

FORECAST

3000 CAGR 4.4% 2500

CAGR 3.7%

2000

2,830

2,607

MENA UAE

CAGR 7.4%

100

CAGR 5.0%

50 23.1

market has seen some volatility.

The report estimated MENA revenues for architecture services to be USD 9.9 billion in 2014 growing at a CAGR of 5.8 percent versus a global CAGR of 3.5 percent between 2010 and 2013. Saudi Arabia and the UAE dominate the market, with 33.3 percent and 25.3 percent revenues share respectively.

Qatar is the next largest market with 5.6 percent MENA market share. The MENA architecture market is expected to continue growing up until 2017 at a CAGR of 7.4 percent, and subsequently by a CAGR of 4.9 percent to 2019, outpacing again the pace of the global market.

The report estimates that the value of the MENA interior design market reached approximately USD 7.1 billion in 2014. Saudi Arabia and the UAE dominate the landscape, with 34 percent and 25.7 percent of revenues respectively, followed

by Qatar with 5.7 percent of the MENA market share. The MENA revenues for interior design services have grown at a significantly faster pace than the global industry since 2010, with a CAGR of 20.4 percent versus a global CAGR of 3.6 percent.

The growth has been driven by the Saudi and Qatari markets, which were largely unaffected by the economic downturn, experiencing

2012

CAGR 5.3%

CAGR 4.5%

2013

35.9

31.8

26.7 2011

147.5

129.2

99.9

80.6

CAGR 6.8%

CAGR 6.6%

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

The MENA Design Outlook report will build a bridge between global markets and opportunities in the regional design segments

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

notable increases in their interior design sectors of 46.5 percent and 42.9 percent respectively, albeit from a low base. Further, the MENA interior design services market is expected to continue growing between 2013 and 2017 at a CAGR of 11.5 percent, and subsequently by a CAGR of 5.7 percent to 2019, outpacing the global market growth, primarily driven by construction in general and the hospitality segment in particular.

The report considered three product design segments (furniture, lighting and marine), however only the furniture and lighting segments’ market values were estimated. According to the report, the steady growth of the furniture market in MENA in the past years has been primarily driven by the renewed construction market boom in the region. As in international markets, forecasted demand in furniture is closely linked with the residential construction market, where the Middle East is currently seeing a rise in major housing, hospitality, retail and business developments underway. Furniture December 2015

retail remains positive over the next five years, bolstered by strong demand in domestic markets totaling USD 13.2 billion across MENA in 2014. This is largely driven

by Saudi Arabia, which has the largest retail market for furniture in the region. Total sales in Saudi Arabia were estimated at USD 3.7 billion in 2013 and are projected to have steady growth over the next few years, with the segment value to be worth an estimated USD 4.6 billion by 2019. Egypt is the second largest furniture market, worth an estimated USD 1.6 billion in 2014.

Furniture is a key contributor to manufacturing in MENA although with very different profiles between countries. The largest demand market, KSA is also the largest producer in the region with USD 2.7 billion of furniture locally manufactured, which makes the country reliant on imports for less than 30 percent of their domestic demand. The UAE in comparison, whilst having furniture production pockets in Sharjah, relies on imports for close to 50 percent of the demand. Driven by high demand

2019

Image © MENA Design Outlook

1500

2010

GLOBAL

2,198

1,969

0

CAGR 4.2%

particularly in the GCC, luxury furniture retailers are entering the MENA market while increased demand for customized products has driven collaboration between renowned international and MENA designers. Design events in the region have acted as a catalyst to regional innovation in furniture design.

“The MENA Design Outlook report will build a bridge between global markets and opportunities in the regional design segments.

This first-of-its-kind report in the region sets the landscape of the design market in MENA and will be a foundation on which to build. It clearly demonstrates the significant economic contribution of the design and creative industries in MENA but still identifies some short and long term opportunities around awareness, regulation and incubation to fully develop the potential of these segments,” concluded Emmanuel Durou, Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Partner at Monitor Deloitte in the Middle East. * This article contains text from the ‘MENA Design Outlook Study. For more information or to download the report, please visit: www.ddfc.ae

MARKET REPORT 23

December 2015

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

24 ANALYSIS

American hardwoods widely celebrated at the inaugural ‘Dubai Design Week’ UAE is the largest design market in the MENA region with a 27 percent share and USD 27.6 billion in revenues in 2014

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image Š AHEC

ANALYSIS 25

December 2015

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Image © Khalid Shafar

26 ANALYSIS

A key objective of Dubai Design Week was to celebrate and showcase the most exciting emerging designers and studios operating in the Middle East a key milestone in the Emirate’s journey towards achieving global recognition as a leading design hub, given that the UAE is the largest design market in the MENA region with a 27 percent share and USD 27.6 billion in revenues in 2014.

Leading the way was ‘Win,

Victory, & Love’, a collaborative installation between respected Emirati designer Khalid Shafar and the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), the leading international trade association for the American hardwood industry.

The installation, which was located

at the entrance of Downtown Design, paid tribute to 45 brave UAE soldiers who gave their lives in Yemen earlier this year. Using two important American hardwood species - American cherry and soft maple - Shafar aimed to pay homage to the fallen Emirati soldiers who devoted their lives to the UAE and also contribute to the documentation of their sacrifice, a process that is already in place by the UAE Government.

A key objective of Dubai

Image © Sandra Tinari

American hardwoods were widely celebrated at the inaugural ‘Dubai Design Week’, which took place from October 26 - 31, 2015.

A series of installations and product displays across Dubai highlighted the growing demand and widespread acceptance of American hardwood species by the design community in the UAE at the annual citywide event, which aims to place Dubai on the map as the emerging design capital of the world. The event represented

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © AHEC

ANALYSIS 27

humorous pair of side drawers in soft maple that reference the flamingo.

According to Roderick Wiles, AHEC Director for Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Oceania:

“AHEC runs one of the most widely recognized wood promotion campaigns in the world and it makes perfect sense for us to be collaborating with Dubai Design Week and initiatives such as

The Design Ras Al Khor (DRAK) initiative aimed to draw attention to the potential for the Ras Al Khor Industrial Area to become one of Dubai’s creative districts

Downtown Design and Design Ras Al Khor. Today, great strides are being made in wood technology, but it is the creativity and inspiration of the design community that will ensure wood realizes its full potential. Overall, the Dubai Design Week provided us with a unique and exciting opportunity to see some of the very best creative talent and served as a platform to celebrate design and champion all the good work that is being done using American hardwoods.”

Image © AHEC

Design Week was to celebrate and showcase the most exciting emerging designers and studios operating in the Middle East, with a major focus of activity being centered around the Dubai Design District (d3). A case in point being ‘The Workplace Revisited’, a showcase of work desks in American ash by Fadi Sarieddine Design Studio at d3. Similar to pods/cocoons on wheels, the desks can be nested together or combined with a larger meeting pod. In addition, the CITY’s Bench, a 4.68m outdoor bench made from thermally-modified American ash and designed by Khalid Shafar, was also displayed at d3.

Outside of d3, the Design Ras Al Khor (DRAK) design initiative aimed to draw attention to the potential for the Ras Al Khor Industrial Area - one of the oldest in the city - to become one of Dubai’s creative districts. Launched by four UAE based designers, the initiative involved installations, pop ups, experiences and product launches. Made of solid American ash, ‘The ‘Ataraxia’ by Tarik Al Zaharna focused on the variety of experiences that the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary offers its users, and was an intensification of some of these elements, recreated and modified to be experienced on a more ‘contained’ scale. Also on display at DRAK was Khalid Shafar’s ‘Mr. & Mrs. Fanteer’, a

December 2015

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

28 DESIGN & DÉCOR

Studio MK27 explores the duality between opaque and transparent at the Mororó house

Image © Fernando Guerra

Timber lines the walls and ceiling offering a homely aesthetic that is echoed by the traditional pitched roof and ceiling

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

DESIGN & DÉCOR 29 are - and the transparent stretch of the heated pool and sauna. The volumetry of the house was given by a sixty-five meters extrusion of an icon-house, with pitched roof.

Furthermore, an external wooden deck connects the spaces and creates a solarium to be used during the summer months.

In the opaque part of the volume, which is 50 meters long, the openings were minimized and used as sliding doors to intensify the integration between inside and out. This relation between empty Image © Fernando Guerra

The Mororó House is in a mountainous region, 180 km from the city of São Paulo, known for its low temperatures. The architecture sought to create generous internal spaces for the cold days, such as, for example, a cozy living room and an enclosed bathhouse with a pool, where the views can be appreciated while being protected by a skin of glass.

Externally, the same continuous volume creates a duality between an opaque block - where the living room, bedrooms and service areas

Image © Fernando Guerra

Image © Fernando Guerra

Image © Fernando Guerra

The walls and ceiling are lined with lengths of timber, offering a homely aesthetic that is echoed by the traditional pitched roof and ceiling

December 2015

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

The choice of the materials for the interiors, such as wood, made it a cozy house, like the traditional chalets in the mountains and full in the façade allows for an excellent thermal performance, with a high degree of electric energy conservation. The transparent stretch is 14 meters long and the internal ventilation was spatially designed to avoid condensation on the glass by the heated pool, which would harm the relation with the view.

A generous balcony deck links the 14 meter space with a large living and dining area, featuring a table big enough to seat 16 people. A kitchen area and breakfast counter run along the rear of the space, but can be hidden away behind a folding screen wall. The slate floor surface follows through from the swimming pool area. The walls and ceiling are lined with lengths of timber, offering a homely aesthetic that is echoed

by the traditional pitched roof and ceiling.

Instead of simple windows, a series of glass doors run along the side walls. In colder weather, residents can screen them using sliding wooden shutters. Beyond the living room, five bedrooms are arranged in sequence within a long white box. The master suite is first, followed by four smaller rooms. At the end of the corridor, a final room offers a more intimate living and dining area, which opens out to a large balcony.

The house is not situated on the top of a rugged site, as initially desired by the clients, but in its lowest part - in the midst of a beautiful forest of pine trees. This solution allowed the building to be surrounded by nature, creating an

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © Fernando Guerra

Image © Fernando Guerra

Image © Fernando Guerra

30 DESIGN & DÉCOR

intimate relation with the site.

The initial premise of the project was to have a quick and cheap construction. Therefore, the architecture found industrialized solutions such as metal structures and steel-frame walls. The site, despite high rainfall, remained always clean. Unlike the Brazilian constructive culture, few elements were made entirely on site, but instead mounted or assembled there. The time to build this house was less than the usual, even with the site’s difficult access.

The choice of the materials for the interiors, such as wood, made it a cozy house, like the traditional chalets in the mountains. Following the desires of the future residents, the kitchen could be integrated to the spaces via wooden sliding doors - that could be entirely opened.

Thus, it was not only possible to design ample and continuous spaces on the inside, but also to have central spaces for the quotidian life which organized the house plan.

Project Details Project Name Mororó House

Construction 2011 - 2015

Location

Campos de Jordão, São Paulo, Brazil

Architects Studio MK27

Lead Architect Marcio Kogan

Co-architect

Maria Cristina Motta

Interior Design Diana Radomysler

Photography Credits Fernando Guerra

32 DESIGN & DÉCOR

Observation House offers the ideal balance between privacy and views in Bulgaria Wood balances the roughness of the entire structure and its surroundings

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © Assen Emilov

DESIGN & DÉCOR 33

December 2015

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distinguished both by its panoramic views and distant visibility,” explain Jeliazkova, Katov and Apostolov, whose past projects include a house with a stepped verandah along one of its sloping glazed facades. “In order to strengthen them, a part of the programme is located in the seemingly blind bastion-like volume and the living area is elevated high on it. This brings view completion up to 360 degree and privacy in the fully opened space above.”

A single perforation in the gabion walls leads into a “cavelike” entrance hall and garage in the center of the ground floor. A glass screen at the rear of this area aligns with the wall of the living space above, creating a tower-like column of glazing. The pitched roof connects geometrically the upper volume with the base and adds complexity in the interior space while the oversized eaves connect it to the little meadow around and exaggerate the hovering effect of

Image © Assen Emilov

Architects Viara Jeliazkova, Georgi Katov, Stefan Apostolov from Sofia-based firm I/O Architects designed the ‘Observation House’ to take advantage of a hilltop plot in north east Bulgaria. Located on a hill in the highest corner of a village amid an agricultural area, the site of the project is distinguished both by its panoramic views and distant visibility.

According to the designers, an ‘elevated meadow’ surrounds the glazed living space of this house in a Bulgarian village, which is raised above the fields on stone-filled cages to give it the appearance of an observation tower. The stonefilled cages, known as gabions, give the building a hardy exterior.

A glass pavilion-liked structure with a wide-brimmed roof rests on top, surrounded by a grassy deck that gives 360 degree views of the agricultural land that borders the village.

“The site of the project is

Image © Assen Emilov

34 DESIGN & DÉCOR

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December 2015

DESIGN & DÉCOR 35

Image © Assen Emilov

Image © Assen Emilov

According to the designers, the structure of the house is reinforced concrete for the base and metal for the pitched roof.

Timber claddings are used in the interior in order to strengthen the natural appearance of the house yet balancing the rough materiality of the exterior. The timber cladding is on all surfaces - floors, walls, ceiling, doors, railings and all of the furniture.

Different local European species of wood have been used in order to differentiate the character of the independent spaces. Cherry for the living room, pear for the bedroom, acacia for the bathrooms and walnut for the kitchen. All claddings are 14 cm wide free length planks on wooden studs and all wooden surfaces have been treated with natural oils.

Dominated mostly by wood, I/O Architects, have found the ideal balance between privacy and views with the Observation House.

Image © Assen Emilov

Image © Assen Emilov

the slim metal structure.

The proportion and the materiality of the solid base give it the appearance of an infrastructural object that define the edge of the village and conceal the ambitious program of the house. Further, the materiality of the interior spaces is dominated by local species wood cladding, which balances the roughness of the entire structure and its surroundings.

A master bedroom, guest suite and staff quarters, as well as a sauna and massage room, are located around the periphery of the central glazed space. Bedrooms are positioned along the glazed opening in the stone base to overlook a pool in the grounds of the house. The smooth timber, glass and polished concrete surfaces within contrast the rugged texture of the exterior.

Two flights of pale wooden steps connect the ground floor areas with the open-plan living space and roof garden above.

December 2015

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Image © Assen Emilov

Image © Assen Emilov

Image © Assen Emilov

Image © Assen Emilov

36 DESIGN & DÉCOR

Project Details Project Name

Observation House

Construction 2013 - 2015

Location

Northeast Bulgaria

Architects

I/O architects

Design team

Viara Jeliazkova, Georgi Katov, Stefan Apostolov

Structural Engineer

Boris Parvanov (Strukto Ltd)

Image © Assen Emilov

Site area

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December 2015

4,640 sqm

Photography Credits Assen Emilov

37

Swedish wood – a versatile, modern material

Natural Living

Renewable Stylish

Strong

Swedish sawn timber is mainly softwood: spruce and pine. Thanks to its high quality, Swedish wood is used for furniture, floors, wall panels, moldings, windows and doors, as well as construction.

All Swedish timber comes from sustainably managed forests, where every harvested tree is replaced by several planted seedlings. World-wide, Sweden is the third largest exporter of sawn timber.

info@swedishwood.com • www.swedishwood.com December 2015 www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

Image Š Jack Hobhouse

38 COMMENT

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December 2015

COMMENT 39

Tall wood buildings are gaining momentum around the world 17 tall wood buildings have been built in the last five years Over the past several years, a number of tall wood projects have been completed around the world, demonstrating successful applications of nextgeneration lumber and mass timber technologies. Today, the concept is gaining traction in the U.S. - with more architects opting for a sustainable solution for attaining safe, cost-effective, high-performing tall buildings in urban-dense settings. With more than 17 tall wood buildings of seven storeys or more having been built around the world serving as demonstration projects, building officials, designers, contractors and consumers are more confident than

ever in the safety of these buildings.

Tall wood buildings are capturing the imagination of architects, engineers and developers, who see them as a way to lessen the carbon footprint of the built environment while demonstrating ingenuity and meeting the same standards for safety and performance as any building type. Heightened awareness of the environmental benefits of wood combined with advances in wood technology and manufacturing have aligned to make tall wood buildings not only possible but safe and cost effective.

Among the many accelerating aspects of the tall wood revolution - such as seismic and other testing

that will form the basis of further building code developments innovations in approach will be one of the most exciting to watch as some of North America’s most creative minds embrace the challenge of designing tall wood buildings.

requirements. Fire design of wood structural members, such as mass timber, is based on recognized procedures that account for the rate of wood charring, insulating characteristics of the char layer, and retention of strength and stiffness of the wood fiber away from the char layer. Additionally, encapsulation through application of protective membrane layers, such as gypsum board, is a recognized approach to delay onset of direct wood exposure to fire and improved overall performance. To date, research has demonstrated that solid wood structural elements can be designed to provide a two-hour fire-resistance rating, as is required

Wood buildings are versatile and perform With the right safety measures in place, such as properly-installed sprinkler systems, fire-resistancerated wall and floor/ceiling assemblies and open spaces around the building’s perimeter, tall wood buildings can be designed to meet and exceed fire safety

FIRE RESISTANCE:

SPEED OF CONSTRUCTION:

CHARRING PROTECTS

MASS TIMBER,

ALLOWING THE THICK

MEMBER TO 50% LESS TIME

7

6

6

5

5

4

4

3

3

2

2

1

1

0

0

3XGRÜN, Bridport House, and Limnologen - tall wood buildings in Europe - each surpassed fire rating requirements (one hour) at 60, 90, and 140 minutes, respectively.

80 GOAL

60 MIN.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENT 60 MIN.

3XGRÜN BRIDPORT

90 MIN.

LIMNOLOGEN 0

30

140 MIN. 60

90

120

150

Image © reThink Wood

7

S TO R E Y S

8

Image © reThink Wood

8

kWh/m2

50

BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE: kWh/m2

ACHIEVED

The eight storey Limnologen building, constructed of mass timber in Sweden, achieved strong energy performance at 50 kWh/m2 by using wood, beating their design goal by 37 percent (80 kWh/m2).

December 2015

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Image © reThink Wood

ENERGY USED

Carpenters erected the eight-storey LifeCycle Tower ONE building in just eight days - one storey per day.

80%

OF ITS ORIGINAL

STRENGTH

DAY S

UP TO

RETAIN AT LEAST

Prefabrication and panelized systems can shorten on-site erection time by up to 50 percent.

40 COMMENT

LOOKING UP:

TALL WOOD BUILDINGS AROUND THE WORLD

17 TALL WOOD BUILDINGS (7 STOREYS OR TALLER)

HAVE BEEN BUILT IN THE PAST 5 YEARS AND COUNTING TREET

Bergen, Norway 14 Storeys 2015

Trafalgar Place

Forté

Banyan Wharf

Maison de l’Inde

London, UK 10 Storeys 2015

Melbourne, Australia 10 Storeys 2012

London, UK 10 Storeys 2015

Paris, France 7 Storeys 2013

Milan, Italy 9 Storeys 2013

Stockholm, Sweden 8 Storeys 2014

Strandparken

Puukuokka

Bridport House

Panorama Giustinelli

St. Dié-des-Vosges

Pentagon II

LifeCycle Tower One

Holz8

Wagramerstrasse

Contralaminada

Wood Innovation Design Center

Cenni di Cambiamento

St. Dié-des-Vosge, France 8 Storeys 2014 Lleida, Spain 8 Storeys 2014

Oslo, Norway 8 Storeys 2013

Jyväskylä, Finland 8 Storeys 2015

Dornbirn, Austria 8 Storeys 2012

London, UK 8 Storeys 2010

Bad Aibling, Germany 8 Storeys 2011

Triste, Italy 7 Storeys 2013

Vienna, Austria 7 Storeys 2013

British Columbia, Canada 8 Storeys 2014

Image © reThink Wood

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December 2015

COMMENT 41

THE PROJECT’S

A whole building Life Cycle Assessment of the Wood Innovation & Design Center, a tall mass timber building equivalent to 8 storeys in Prince George, Canada, revealed

NON-RENEWABLE

ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT

GLOBAL WARMING

WAS LOWER THAN

10%

ACIDIFICATION AIR POLLUTANTS

OR MORE THAN A

OZONE DEPLETION

CONCRETE BUILDING IN

SIX OF SEVEN

SMOG POTENTIAL

INDICATORS:

500,000 SQ. FT. BUTLER BROS.

Image © reThink Wood

LOW CARBON/ ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT:

THE

BUILDING HAS BEEN STANDING FOR OVER

DURABILITY: One of Minneapolis’ oldest structures is the eight storey Butler Brothers building, a former warehouse built in 1906 and renovated into a mixed-use space in 1974.

100 YEARS

Image © reThink Wood

WOOD

RURAL COMMUNITIES:

The U.S. wood products industry employs more than 548,000 people in manufacturing and forestry.

$87 BILLION IN PAYROLL

U.S. Private-forest owners support 2.4 million jobs and $87 billion in payroll.

for taller buildings.

Years of research and experience from real-life have proven that wood buildings can withstand effects of major wind and seismic events.

These structures, when properly designed and constructed, are high performing and provide strength, stiffness, and ductility necessary to provide life safety protection and preserve building function.

Wood buildings are durable and can be designed to last a lifetime. For example, a mass timber system was used in the 1974 rebirth of the nine-storey Butler Square Building in Minneapolis. Heavy timber post and beam construction provided an adaptable solution, and has allowed the building to stand strong since 1900.

Wood buildings reduce environmental impact The choice of products used to build, renovate and operate

structures consumes more of the earth’s resources than any other human activity. To this effect, when specifying any materials, it is important to consider their life cycle environmental impacts.

Because wood products have less embodied energy, help lower air and water pollution, and have a lighter carbon footprint than other commonly used building materials, a strong argument can be made for its contributions to reducing the environmental impact of a building over its lifetime.

Wood is the only building material that sequesters carbon, thus significantly reducing the overall carbon footprint of a project.

Wood manufacturing also requires far less energy and results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions than its major competitors, concrete and steel. A U.S. Forest Servicesponsored LCA study found that using wood in lumber and panel

products yields fewer greenhouse gas emissions than other common building materials.

Demand for wood and sustainable management protect U.S. forests and rural economies Wood products play a significant role in a modern economy. The U.S. wood products industry employs more than 548,000 people in manufacturing and forestry. U.S. private-forest owners support 2.4 million jobs and USD 87 billion in payroll. Sustainable forest management practices in the U.S. restrict harvesting levels while maintaining important forest values such as biodiversity and wildlife habitat. In the U.S., the rate of deforestation due to forestry activity has been virtually zero for decades. Since 1952, the growthremoval ratios for both softwood and hardwood show that growth December 2015

Image © reThink Wood

548,000 JOBS

has exceeded harvest.

By making forest sustainability and innovation top priorities, the wood products industry will continue to be a significant employer and supporter of rural economies. The environmental benefits associated with wood products - renewability, responsible forest practices and a light carbon footprint - are helping to strengthen markets for wood products, in turn stabilizing the wood industry’s ability to create jobs and support local economies. Additionally, strong markets for wood products provide a financial incentive for landowners to invest in their forests and keep them healthy for future generations. *This article includes text and images from reThink Wood. For more information and resources on tall wood buildings, please visit: www.rethinkwood.com. www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

42 TALL TIMBER

U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition winners revealed

Image © SHoP Architects PC

USDA and Softwood Lumber Board award USD 3 million to support tall wood demonstration projects in New York and Portland, Oregon

The winners of the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition were announced earlier this year in New York. The two winning development teams were granted a combined USD 3 million in funding to support the development of tall wood demonstration projects in New York and Portland, Oregon.

Speaking at the press conference, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said: “The U.S. wood products industry is vitally important as it employs more than 547,000 people in manufacturing and forestry, with another 2.4 million jobs supported

by U.S. private-forest owners. By embracing the benefits of wood as a sustainable building material, these demonstration projects have the ability to help change the face of our communities, mitigate climate change and support jobs in rural America. I look forward to seeing how these two buildings help lead the way in furthering the www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

industry.”

Next-generation lumber and mass timber products are becoming the latest innovation in building.

Innovative new technologies and building systems have enabled longer wood spans, taller walls, and higher buildings, and continue to expand the possibilities for wood use in construction.

Mass timber wood products are flexible, strong, and fire resistant, and can be used as a safe and sustainable alternative to concrete, masonry, and steel. Using wood helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by storing carbon and simultaneously offsetting emissions from conventional building materials.

Wood can also help struggling rural forest communities. During the recession, the drop in new construction and decline in home remodeling had a deep impact on wood manufacturing. However, if next-generation wood products December 2015

can penetrate just five to fifteen percent of the non-residential North American market, it would mean roughly 0.8 - 2.4 billion board feet of lumber consumed annually.

To put that in real-world context, roughly 35 jobs are created for each million board feet of wood processed.

The two winning proposals of the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition - Framework and 475 West 18th - were selected by a panel of distinguished jurors in the architecture and engineering fields who are familiar with innovative wood building systems. While each took a unique approach, both projects met the Competition’s criteria to showcase the safe application, practicality and sustainability of a minimum 80-foot structure that uses mass timber, composite wood technologies and innovative building techniques.

The Framework Project, LLC

and 130-134 Holdings LLC - on behalf of Framework and 475 West 18th, respectively - will each receive USD 1.5 million to embark on the exploratory phase of their projects, including the research and development necessary to utilize engineered wood products in high-rise construction in the U.S. As part of the Competition evaluation criteria, both of the winning teams have also obtained early support from their respective authorities having jurisdiction to proceed.

“Tall wood building systems have been embraced by developers and architects around the world for many years,” said Marc Brinkmeyer, Softwood Lumber Board Chair. “Moving forward with these projects is a step in the right direction for the U.S. building industry in having the ability to take full advantage of the inherent benefits of wood from both an environmental and economic standpoint.”

Beautiful. And beautifully quiet: Sensys There is a hinge which impresses on the outside just as much as it does on the inside: Sensys. Behind its sophisticated, clean lines, the added convenience of gentle, controlled closure. Hinged doors close in complete silence all by themselves. Exceptionally wide self closing angle and integrated Silent System produce a feel of luxury that’s second to none. That’s what we call innovation: award-winning design and perfect performance.

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The Sensys hinge provides an exceptionally wide self closing angle of up to 35°.

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Sensys guarantees perfect closing function and Silent System performance over an exceptionally wide temperature range of +5 °C to +40 °C.

Sensys provides excellent Silent System performance on small and light, or large and heavy doors (e.g. on 60 x 90 cm doors with just two hinges and on 60 x 200 cm doors with just four hinges).

The Sensys mounting plate can also be used for all Intermat fast assembly hinges as a cost-effective way of bringing a mark of distinction to any range of furniture.

Perfected hinge design for the ultimate in Silent System performance: Sensys

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44 TALL TIMBER

Image © LEVER Architecture

FRAMEWORK: AN URBAN + RURAL ECOLOGY

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On a national scale this project will be catalytic, leading to more tall wood buildings, driving more wood products and wood product innovation, and boosting rural economic development

Image © LEVER Architecture

Beneficial State Bancorp will provide site control to real estate developer project^, affordable housing investor Home Forward, and LEVER Architecture, for the proposed Framework as a redevelopment of their Pearl District property in Portland, Oregon. The 12-storey urban + rural ecological project is to be constructed primarily of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and will support a distinct blend of functions including street-level retail, office, workforce housing and community space. The main community space is designed to include a public Tall Wood Exhibit, featuring resources related to the realization and design of the building.

“We consider Framework to be a totally transformative, missiondriven project that will promote social justice, environmental wellbeing and economic opportunity at the building, regional and national levels,” said Kat Taylor, President, Beneficial State Bancorp, the landowner of the project site.

“The relationship of our cities to our rural communities, what we call ‘forest to frame,’ is strengthened by Framework,” added Anyeley Hallova, Partner, project^. “On a national scale this project will be catalytic, leading to more tall wood buildings, driving more wood products and wood product innovation, and boosting rural economic development.”

December 2015

TALL TIMBER 45

relative to current energy codes.

It will also target LEED Platinum certification, as well as pursue higher levels of sustainability not captured in the LEED system.

“By choosing to develop a timber building, we hope to pave the way for a new method of urban construction that is ecologically conscious and supportive of rural economies,” said Erica Spiritos of Spiritos Properties. “Rooted in the forests and erected in the city, this building is a celebration of habitats that are at once ancient and cutting edge, interconnected and individual, natural and technological.”

“We are delighted to be developing this tall timber building in New York City, which has led the world in urban design and engineering throughout the last century,” said Jonathan Ghassemi, on behalf of 130-134 Holdings LLC. “We are confident that this project will once again position New York to serve as a leader in a new generation of sustainable building methods during the 21st century and beyond.”

Expanding the palette with wood, a locally sourced and renewable material, provides a lowcarbon, more economically sound building solution

Image © SHoP Architects PC

130-134 Holdings LLC, in partnership with Spiritos Properties, SHoP Architects, Arup, Icor Associates, and environmental consultancy Atelier Ten, proposed 475 West 18th, a residential condominium building, as a transformative and sustainable prototype for the design and construction industry, demonstrating an innovative approach to going beyond a limited palette of materials and systems for high-rise construction.

Expanding the palette with wood, a locally sourced and renewable material, provides a low-carbon, more economically sound building solution.

475 West 18th’s extensive use of wood structural elements and other wood products allows the team to set ambitious sustainability targets in the building’s design, construction, and operation. By combining aggressive load reduction with energy efficient systems, the project team anticipates reducing overall energy consumption by at least 50 percent

Image © SHoP Architects PC

475 WEST 18TH: SETTING THE STAGE FOR INNOVATION, ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

December 2015

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46 TECHNOLOGY

Barberio Colella ARC unveils earthquake-relief timber housing that pops up in ‘Just a Minute’ Structure is made from bamboo, OSB panels, laminated bamboo, recycled wool, white juta and waterproof textiles

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December 2015

TECHNOLOGY 47 and doesn’t require any complex technologies or skilled labor.

According to the designers, an earthquake can ruin the life of an entire community in a minute. Their solution then is an instant temporary home that can give people a new chance to start their life again in ‘just a minute’ as well. The aim of the project is to build a new life for Nepalese people, giving them a simple but efficient house, one

that is open to customization and also with the potential to upgrade or switch to a stable house in the future.

Built to accommodate 4 to 10 people, the ‘Just a Minute’ shelter is meant to be prefabricated offsite and then shipped via helicopter to the disaster-affected area. Although measuring around 4 x 11.7 meter when fully stretched, the building’s ingenious X-shaped bamboo pole

design allows it to be folded, much like an accordion, into a compact 2.5 x 4 meter box that can be easily transported from one place to another.

The main idea of the project is to use local Nepalese materials, or from close countries, to make a house that can be built quickly, is lightweight and compact to transport, durable (despite it being temporary) and economic. The use of a deployable

Image © Barberio Colella ARC

Barberio Colella ARC’s temporary structures were designed as part of a competition launched by the Chinese website Ikuku. Originally created in response to the April 2015 Nepal earthquake that killed over 9,000 people, the ‘Just a Minute’ project could easily be adapted for use in other countries as well. The quickly deployable home is mainly constructed from locally sourced bamboo and waterproof textiles,

December 2015

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48 TECHNOLOGY

An earthquake can ruin the life of an entire community in a minute.

This instant temporary home can give a new chance to start their life again in just a minute.

EASY TO OPEN Only few volunteers needed

Section A-A’

Section B-B’

EASY TO TRANSPORT

OPENED CONFIGURATION

Built to accommodate 4 to 10 people, the ‘Just a Minute’ shelter is meant to be prefabricated offsite and then shipped via helicopter to the disaster-affected area a team, a second team can prepare the central core, another can handle the textile envelope, and so on.

Some parts can be prefabricated, which helps speed up the process.

At the center of the house is the permanent part, made of coverable wooden OSB panels, equipped with all the services (bathroom and

kitchen), which measure 1.5 x 4 meters. On the sides of the central block, are two main rooms (living area and sleeping area), which measure 4 x 4 meters, plus a small covered outdoor area of 1 x 4 meters.

The two side rooms consist of horizontal (floor), vertical (upright) and oblique (roof) bamboo poles

with a diameter of 6 cm, braced by bamboo poles arranged in an X-shape, with a diameter of 3 cm.

These poles are drilled at the center and at the ends, so as to allow the structure to unfold. The fixing of the poles, after opening the structure, is ensured by butterfly screws.

The installation system, which requires few volunteers, is a very simple process because the house arrives on site already fully assembled, with the exception of the floor which is positioned when the structure is opened. The mechanism for deployment of the

Image © Barberio Colella ARC

structure, made of bamboo and textile building envelope, allows easy transportation as well. The disaster relief structure is made from bamboo, OSB panels, laminated bamboo, recycled wool, white juta and waterproof textiles.

Fabrication does not require complex technologies or skilled labor, but just a series of simple operations to prepare the various parts that need to be assembled together. The modularity of the structure ensures that the construction process can be organized in stages. For instance, the bamboo modules can be prepared by

Image © Barberio Colella ARC

EASY TO FIX The butterfly screws allow to fix the structure quickly

Image © Barberio Colella ARC

CLOSED CONFIGURATION

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December 2015

TECHNOLOGY 49

CLOSED CONFIGURATION

COMPONENTS AND MATERIALS

The textile membrane is folded and the side bamboo structure is closed.

The central core does not need to be moved.

OSB central core Deployable Bamboo structure

Laminated Bamboo floor panels (stored vertically inside the module while it is closed)

Polycarbonate window Bamboo shaders

bamboo frame. Smaller bamboo canes can also be positioned to achieve solar shading. These facades are conceived as adaptable, making it possible to open the windows to ventilate the interior. Even the solar shading is reversible, allowing the user to remove them in winter and use them in summer.

The design of the mono-pitched

roof allows owners to easily install solar and photovoltaic panels to make the home self-sufficient. The number and the quantity depends on the budget available for the construction of housing units.

Further, rainwater can be collected from the roof and redirected into the central block, where a tank is located for recycling and storage.

The disaster relief structure is made from bamboo, OSB panels, laminated bamboo, recycled wool, white juta and waterproof textiles

(from China) (from Nepal) (from China/Nepal) (from Bangladesh/India (from Europe/USA/China - Chatity) (from China)

The bathroom offers the minimum services (a shower, a sink, a chemical bath) required to ensure a level of hygiene.

The house is designed for large families and can accommodate from 4 to 10 people (by using the living area to sleep and installing bunk beds in the sleeping area). Thanks to the simple, modular design, the houses can be easily joined together to create a dwelling or even, an entire community. In this way, the rebuilding process in the aftermath of an earthquake can be expedited with minimum delay.

Image Š Barberio Colella ARC

structure is facilitated by the use of a light but resistant envelope made of a double layer of white juta, inside which is positioned a padding of wool, made from old sweaters and clothing that can be collected through donations (charity), providing thermal insulation both heat and cold (which is fundamental, because of the different climates of Nepal).

The entire house is covered with a waterproof membrane to protect it from rain and snow. The lateral facades on the short sides are made of polycarbonate mounted on a

$ OSB panels $ Bamboo $$ Laminated Bamboo $ White Juta $ Recycled wool $$ Waterproof membrane

Image Š Barberio Colella ARC

Double white Juta membrane Recycled Wool insulation Waterproof membrane

December 2015

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50 WOOD WORKS

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December 2015

WOOD WORKS

51

Image © Bernhardt Furniture Company

Ross Lovegrove celebrates 125 years of Bernhardt Design with ‘Anne’ chair

December 2015

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52 WOOD WORKS contemporary and a reflection of my design vocabulary. I have worked with so many different materials in my career and used various technologies, but I have never designed a wood chair, and it is something I have always wanted to do,” says Lovegrove.

The british creative who is known for employing high-end technology in the development of his furniture concepts, utilized old-world craftsmanship in combination with

about working in wood is that it is a truly organic material and full of surprises. Just like a slab of marble, you don’t know what you are getting when you make your first cut. This makes every piece unique.

As in all my work, the Anne chair is about sculpting a material: creating something that has a human dimension and looks interesting from any view. I’m very inspired by deep pre-historical tools and objects whose materials are often

One of the interesting things about working in wood is that it is a truly organic material and full of surprises

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © Bernhardt Furniture Company Image © Bernhardt Furniture Company

eroded, and the essential form feels sculpted by use and time,” explains Lovegrove.

Products can often feel edgy, as if they are waiting for use - never really becoming part of us. In the case of chairs, there must be some reference for the eye to read comfort and tactility, as well as to enjoy the reshaping that comes

Image © Bernhardt Furniture Company

master carvers and seven axis CNC machines to realize ‘Anne’, his first wood chair, manufactured from solid American walnut. This decision came from his desire to render something that had character and depth, expressing a sense of comfort and tactility in both visually and physically.

“One of the interesting things

from ownership. For this reason, Lovegrove wanted to use walnut, because it has so much character and depth. It is a warm material, and you can almost feel the age of the tree in its personality.

“My concept for the leather seat begins at the end, so to speak. The intention was similar to people buying jeans that look and feel a little broken-in before they are worn. I wanted the seat to be very fluid, almost as if were poured into the frame, as opposed to being a distinctly separate element. This casual draping effect speaks to prior use and provides a visual cue regarding comfort. The final result is a chair that is rather timeless, one where it is difficult to assign a time and date,” concludes Lovegrove.

The Anne chair, which derives its name from Bernhardt Design founder Anne Harper Bernhardt, is available in solid American walnut with a natural finish. Complex to make and referencing both the old and new Bernhardt, the seat is available in leather in a range of colorways.

Image © Bernhardt Furniture Company

Bernhardt Furniture Company, a family-owned American manufacturer, celebrated its 125th anniversary last year. To mark this occasion, Bernhardt Design honored the company’s heritage of fine wood-working and upholstery craftsmanship with a new collection of products that underscore this artistry. Designers Noé DuchaufourLawrance, Ross Lovegrove and Jephson Robb drew inspiration from three different traditional furniture archetypes and recreated them for today’s world. New York artist Frederick McSwain completed the celebration by paying tribute to generations of craftsmen and artisans with a series of original artwork.

“When thinking about this project and how to consider Bernhardt Design’s wood heritage, my starting point was the American courthouse chair. These chairs were such a visible part of the American landscape because of their very powerful presence.

Using this historical reference, I wanted to create a chair that is

Contact us: Теlephone: + 971 4 3923232, Email: info@dubaiwoodshow.com

54 SHOWTIME

Top Industry Exhibitions Coming Up This Season

Held at the beginning of the year, the 12th edition of the Istanbul Furniture Fair (ISMOB) will showcase the latest home furnishings, interior designers and global furniture trends for 2016 over the course of its six day run at the Tüyap Fair and Convention Center, Büyükçekmece in Istanbul, Turkey.

Ranked as the third largest furniture fair in the world, ISMOB will present the Turkish furniture sector to a global audience and connect manufacturers, designers and buyers from January 12 - 17, 2016. Organized in association with MOSDER - the Association of Turkish Furniture Industrialists, the show hosted 500 exhibitors and more than 1000 brands in 2015 and the organizers are confident of exceeding those numbers next year.

Currently, more than 60,000 companies operate in the Turkish furniture industry with Istanbul, Ankara, Kayseri, Inegöl and Izmir emerging as the leading furniture production locations. Manufacturers in Turkey closely follow global furniture technologies, continuously renewing their machine fleets and using state-of-the-art technologies whilst Turkish furniture designers, who also follow developments worldwide, produce trendy designs, all of which means that the Turkish furniture industry is on its way towards becoming a global leader. As such, there is demand for new materials and technologies for the furniture industry, which bodes well for the market leading Istanbul Furniture Fair.

key issues affecting the industry.

In 2016, approximately 1,400 exhibitors from more than 60 nations will converge on the Hannover Exhibition Center to showcase their latest products and new season’s collections. Given the extensive range of products on display, the show attracts trade visitors from the wholesale/retail trade, the field of architecture, interior design and the skilled trades looking to obtain a complete market overview so that they can compare suppliers, products, terms and prices, as well as gain insights into the latest trends and developments. DOMOTEX also picks up on key trends and innovations and sets the tone in international interior design fashions for the new year.

Image © DOMOTEX Hannover

Image © Istanbul Furniture Fair

ISTANBUL FURNITURE FAIR

January 16 - 19, 2016 Hannover Exhibition Center | Hannover, Germany www.domotex.de/en IMM COLOGNE

January 12 - 17, 2016 Tüyap Fair and Convention Center, Büyükçekmece | Istanbul, Turkey

DOMOTEX HANNOVER DOMOTEX Hannover is the world’s largest exhibition for the carpet and floor coverings industry offering a comprehensive overview of the market and a host of opportunities for companies to widen their contacts and cultivate existing connections. In line with the DOMOTEX claim - ‘The World of Flooring’ - every product group and trend will be showcased in detail at the show. Hand-made and machine-made carpets, textile and resilient floor coverings, parquet, wooden and laminates take pride of place, in addition to equipment and products for floor laying, maintenance and applications technology. In addition, a broad range of special events, trade association meetings and conferences offers visitors the chance to learn more about the www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © imm Cologne

www.ismob.com.tr/en

imm Cologne is the first furnishing and interiors trade fair of the year and will present the trends that shape the furniture and interior design sector.

According to the organizers, everything from the basics to designer items and luxury interiors will be on display, thereby ensuring visitors find a unique diversity of interior design ideas - for every room, in every style and for every taste. As such, the show is well established as an important platform where suppliers and decision-makers from important global markets in the

SHOWTIME 55 sector will set the course for doing successful business in the future. In 2016, imm Cologne will once again present inspiring interior design ideas for trendsetters and provide the markets with new momentum.

As one of the most important events in the global primary furnishing market, imm Cologne presents the latest international furniture trends and surprises with numerous marketable innovations. The broad range on offer is combined with high standards of quality and an excellent presentation of the products. The fair also provides an effective platform for young designers.

Fittingly, the fair is open to end consumers on certain days, which provides exhibitors with the opportunity for product and market tests. Given the extensive programme of events that take place all over the city of Cologne in conjunction with the show, imm Cologne is expected to remain the center of the furnishing and design world for the duration of its week-long run.

January 18 - 24, 2016 Koelnmesse GmbH (Halls 1-11) | Cologne, Germany www.imm-cologne.com/imm/index-2.php MAGNA EXPOMUEBLERA 2016

the biggest trade platform for the wood and furniture industries in Iran, the organizers expect over 600 exhibitors, company representatives from all over the globe, and over 55,000 trade visitors.

The exhibitor profile includes manufacturers and suppliers of wood and forestry products; furniture accessories; chemicals; seating group and bed manufacturing materials; manufacturing tools, equipment and accessories; machines, technical equipment and services for forestry; machines and technical equipment for primary processing (production of semi-finished products); machines and technical equipment for secondary processing (laminating, machining, gluing of solid timber); machines and technical equipment for surface finishing; and other related services.

January 31 - February 3, 2016 Tehran International Permanent Fairground | Tehran, Iran http://en.miladgroup.net FIMMA - MADERALIA 2016

January 20 - 23, 2016 Centro Banamex | Mexico City, Mexico www.magnaexpomueblera.mx/english WOODEX 2016 The 14th International Exhibition of Accessories, Furniture Machinery, Equipment & related industries (WOODEX) is being organized from January 31 - February 3, 2016 at the Tehran International Permanent Fairground. As

Image © FIMMA

The International Furniture and Equipment fair for Mexico and Central America (Magna ExpoMueblera 2016) takes place in Mexico City, Mexico from January 20 - 23, 2016 at Centro Banamex. The show will provide leading local, regional and international players with an opportunity to showcase the latest machinery, materials, products and new developments in the furniture industry.

Covering an area of 30,000 sqm, the show is divided into eight specialized pavilions and will provide the most powerful opportunity available for suppliers and contractors in Central America to connect faceto-face, under one roof in just four days. Running alongside the exhibition is a conference and a series of workshops, which will offer attendees valuable first hand industry knowledge.

Following the success of this year’s show, Feria Valencia are once again hosting the Feria Hábitat Valencia, FIMMA and Maderalia fairs from February 2 - 5, 2016 to coincide with Cevisama. As such, the international trade fair calendar has a unique exhibition, which includes the elements of furniture, lighting, home textiles, ceramic coverings, marble, kitchens, bathrooms, doors, windows, parquets, laminated floors, etc. In short, everything in a home involving design. More importantly, simultaneously hosting these events means that the show is able to attract a wider audience, which bodes well for exhibitors.

The exhibitor profile at the event includes Woodworking machinery; tools and equipment; plants and facilities; hardware and locksmith (kitchen accessories, metal components, lighting, locks, handles, cranks); woods, sheets, boards, and paper edges; carpentry-construction (doors, windows, cabinets, stairs, beams, floors, houses, kitchen cabinet); chemical and surface finish (varnish, lacquer, paints, adhesives, abrasives); semi-finished products / Ancillary industry; and new materials (resins, PVC, aluminum, steel, glass, acrylic). The organizers expect to attract over 110,000 professional visitors from over 146 countries.

February 2 - 5, 2016 Feria Valencia - Pavilion 8, Pavilion 7 low and Pavilion 7 high | Valencia, Spain http://fimma-maderalia.feriavalencia.com/en

December 2015

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56 SHOWTIME

DŘEVOSTAVBY (WOODEN BUILDINGS)

The 11th International Exhibition of Wooden Buildings, Structures and Materials for Low-Energy and Passive Houses (Dřevostavby 2016) is being held in February next year in Prague. Unique in its range of topics, the show aims to promote wooden houses as a construction system of the future.

According to the organizers, wood is and always will be a renewable natural resource and remains in all forms of processing an indispensable part of the materials used in construction. As such, the fair provides comprehensive information on the use of wood and natural materials in construction and processing of fully renewable natural resources.

The fair attracts professionals, developers, investors, builders and anyone interested in modern wooden houses. More importantly, the exhibition along with the accompanying program covers most of the important topics in architecture, design, technology, energy savings and finances needed to implement the construction of wooden houses. Trade visitors will be able to obtain a comprehensive overview of the market situation, learn about new trends and innovations, and find information about specific prices and products. In addition, the show also offers the opportunity to meet architects, quality construction companies, and suppliers of wood, woodworking machinery, and related tools.

February 4 - 7, 2016 Holešovice Fairground | Prague, Czech Republic www.drevostavby.eu FURNEX FURNEX returns in 2016 with a view to showcase and promote Egypt as a world-class supplier and a major player in the furniture and home furnishings market. Jointly organized by the Egyptian Exporters Association (Expolink) and the Egyptian Furniture Export Council (EFEC), the show has played a key role in the transformation of local furniture manufacturers into developed skilled exporters by enabling them to compete internationally and continuously exposing their products to international visitors and therefore international markets. Set to run from February 4 - 7, 2016 at the Cairo International Convention Center (CICC), the next edition will witness the participation of small to medium and large sized companies presenting their new collections and production capabilities The organizers expect to host over 150 Egyptian exhibitors from different various industrial sectors, including furniture, home accessories, home textile, lighting, marble, flooring, handicrafts, service providers and more.

Given that the organizers run an International Visitor Program (IVP), which is a hosted buyers program targeting regional and international visitors www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

Image © FURNEX

Image © Dřevostavby

wishing to source furniture and furnishings from Egypt, the show is able to offer exhibitors an opportunity to form regional and global partnerships. In addition, the next edition will also feature the ‘Design Hub’, a seminar and conference programme, and a range of other activities aimed at promoting the Egyptian furniture industry.

February 4 - 7, 2016 Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Center (CICC) | Cairo, Egypt www.furnexegypt.com SALON DU MOBILIER 2016 The next edition of the Furniture Fair (Salon du Mobilier) is being organized from February 7 - 9, 2016 at EXPONANTES in Nantes, France. The three-day event will focus on the different furniture and the latest designs available in the market. With a view to bring together the professionals and experts from the furniture industry, the show will provide a great platform for attendees to interact with each other and learn about the latest trends.

The show will feature more than 120 exhibitors who will showcase their products and services in addition to trade professionals representing nearly 400 brands from the industry. It will also give exhibitors a chance to reach their customers and make their mark.

The exhibitor profile will include manufacturers and suppliers of furniture, bedding, living room furniture, layout, decoration, lighting, materials, accessories and services, country furniture, reproduction furniture, stylish furniture, design furniture, lighting, kitchen units, contemporary furniture, bathroom furniture, living room furniture, chairs, rugs, bedding, storage, dressing rooms, layout, decorative objects, materials, technical products and accessories and others. In addition, visitors at the fair will include trade visitors, a selection of specialists from the world of interior decoration and design, directors and buyers from invited firms, furniture wholesalers, fitters, up market design and decoration shops, interior decorators, lighting distributors, bathroom manufacturers and distributors, kitchen fitters, tertiary and commercial design studios and other decision makers.

February 7 - 9, 2016 Nantes Parc des Expositions de La Beaujoire (EXPONANTES) | Nantes, France www.salondumobilier.com

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CUTTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Timber Design & Technology Middle East is a bi-monthly magazine (in hard copy and online) for the buyers, end users and specifiers of wood and related machinery and products in the Middle East.

The publication offers news, analysis and in-depth features examining all issues relating to the regional timber sector, targeting a wide spectrum of readers including furniture, manufacturer, joinery companies, specifiers (architects & designers), importers and distributors, woodworking professionals and flooring specialists among others.

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com December 2015

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

58 SHOWTIME INTERVIEW

Asia’s largest and most influential furniture production and woodworking trade fair - CIFM / interzum guangzhou 2016 - is poised to be held over four days starting from 2016 instead of the traditional five-day run. This strategic move has been prompted by feedback from the industry, which will also see the colocated China International Furniture Fair (CIFF) shorten by a day and take place over the same period, from March 28 - 31, 2016 in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou. The 13th edition of the industry leading show is expected to host over 1,200 exhibitors in over 140,000 square meters of show space. The international exhibitor halls will feature over 250 wellknown overseas companies from 35 countries and regions, bringing with them the latest products, equipment and technologies to the buyers. Karen Lee (pictured), General Manager South China, Koelnmesse Co., Ltd, is confident of breaking new ground with the 2016 edition. In an interview with Timber Design & Technology, Lee provides an overview of the show.

interzum Guangzhou to provide a quality ‘onestop’ trading platform for manufacturers and buyers within the industry 01. In retrospect, what were the major achievements of the last edition of interzum Guangzhou? interzum guangzhou 2015 saw the addition of Hall 12.1, boosting the total trade floor area of 130,000 sqm in 2014 to 140,000 sqm, to become the largest in the event’s history. In addition, it was the first time that exhibitor numbers exceeded 1,200. The 2015 edition featured 1,269 companies from 35 countries and regions.

In terms of visitors, we received 67,270 people - another record-breaker.

02. How is the next edition positioned? What are the main objectives? interzum guangzhou has always been committed to providing a quality ‘one-stop’ trading platform for manufacturers and buyers within the industry. In 2016, the event will focus more on ‘design’ and ‘effectiveness’. As a professional trade fair organizer, we have conducted extensive surveys on exhibitors and international visitors in both 2014 and 2015, and after taking into account all factors of the industry and feedback from exhibitors, we have decided to adjust the event days back from five to the original four days starting from 2016. We believe that the adjustment will be more in line with the participation habits of international exhibitors, provide convenience for buyers with more concentrated sourcing and reduce participation cost for exhibitors, with the aim of building a more robust trading platform. We also hope to achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness between exhibitors and visitors by shortening the number of trade days.

03. Are there any new events such as awards, seminars and workshops at the next edition?

Official forums revolving around the history and trends of furniture surface materials will be held during interzum guangzhou 2016. Exhibitors will be invited to share their knowledge on the application of a variety of furniture surfaces and auxiliary materials, as well as their latest technological achievements, allowing

Event details Dates

March 28 - 31, 2016

Venue

China Import and Export Fair Complex (Pazhou Complex)

Location

Guangzhou, China

Organizer Image © CIFM/interzum guangzhou

Koelnmesse Co., Ltd

Frequency Annual

Website

www.interzum-guangzhou. com

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December 2015

Image © CIFM/interzum guangzhou

SHOWTIME INTERVIEW 59

04. How does interzum Guangzhou aim to be different from other industry trade fairs?

Due to the venue and positioning of the event, interzum guangzhou is destined to be different from the other similar exhibitions in China. Since the show’s inception, we have been aiming to create an efficient and effective ‘one-stop’ trading platform and for it to serve as a hub for the latest products and technologies for furniture production. At present, China occupies a pivotal position in the global furniture manufacturing industry, and Guangdong is also China’s leading furniture production base. Through the trade fair, we hope to establish a platform for international brands to enter China, and on top of that, using this same platform for high quality domestic enterprises to reach out to the world.

For exhibitors and visitors, the exhibition itself is always the most important: Which big brands will be participating in the event this year?

Who are the new exhibitors? What new products and technologies will be released at the show? These are the main concerns of everyone. So, we have been working hard all these years to attract more high-quality brands from abroad, for them to showcase the industry’s latest products and technology in China, and also sparing no efforts in promoting and attracting more international visitors here, to purchase quality products from China.

With the development of the event, interzum guangzhou now enjoys substantial influence within the industry, and has won a number of ‘Asia’s firsts’. interzum guangzhou will celebrate its 13th birthday in 2016, but relative to the parent event interzum, as well as numerous other trade fairs organized by Koelnmesse in Germany, 13 years is merely the beginning of

an international event. interzum guangzhou still has a very long way to go.

05. What does interzum Guangzhou specifically offer to the timber and related industries?

A dedicated wood and interior design feature zone at one of the international exhibits halls - Hall 15.1 - has been established and will feature several wood promotion bodies from abroad, including the American Hardwood Export Council, Canada Wood, ProChile and French Timber.

Besides the strong support of the associations, interzum guangzhou 2016 has also attracted the participation of wood manufacturers from forest-rich nations, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Uruguay, Brazil, Finland and Sweden.

In the promotional aspect, an issue of our electronic event newsletter focusing on the wood industry will provide an introduction and relevant

Image © CIFM/interzum guangzhou

visitors access to the latest industry information while procuring their products.

In comparison to its parent event, interzum, interzum guangzhou indeed has less fringe activities. It is due to the positioning of the event. interzum guangzhou emphasizes strongly on being an effective trading platform for participants. In the future, with the development of the show, I believe that activities similar to the ‘interzum Award’ will appear at interzum guangzhou.

December 2015

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60 SHOWTIME INTERVIEW developments of the wood exhibitors in next year’s event.

06. How many visitors and exhibitors are likely to be there at the next edition? What percentage of them are repeat exhibitors and how many of them are new?

The total number of exhibitors for the next edition is expected to remain at between 1,200 and 1,300 companies, with more than 80 percent of them being returning exhibitors. As show days in 2016 will be shortened by a day compared with the last edition, we expect the number of visitors to be similar with 2015, at about 67,000 people.

Image © CIFM/interzum guangzhou

07. Who are some of the new exhibitors making their debut at the next edition?

Some of the exhibitors at the international halls making their first appearance include Ferwood, Beckhoff Automation and Nederman (Woodworking Machinery category); Alfa, Simalfa, GTA, Comfytex, Kisbu, Lalan Eco-Latex and Mitsan Makina (Upholstery Material category); Pytha, Virgo and Durian (Interior Decor category); Onkar, Servetto, Verov and Decro (Hardware category); and Matilda Veneer, Termopal and Verinlegno (Wood & Adhesives category).

09. What - in your opinion - are the major trends for the timber industry at the moment?

interzum guangzhou is a satellite event of the renowned interzum from Germany, and is similar to European trade fairs in terms of the concept and management. The most important feature of European trade fairs is that the show focuses more on design concepts, providing the latest information and inspirations for the participants, for insiders to experience, feel and promote exchange. This exhibition concept was extended to interzum guangzhou when the show came to China. Therefore, comparing with trade fairs that stress on trade volume, such as Canton Fair, interzum guangzhou pays more attention to the participation experience of exhibitors and visitors, as well as the follow-up communication between buyers and sellers after the show, which is what we mean by ‘effectiveness’. This is also the main reason why interzum managed to successfully extend its footprint from Germany to Singapore and to Guangzhou, to achieve sustainable development and a long-term high reputation within the industry.

In April this year, China has implemented a new forest policy, which puts the commercial logging of natural forests within key state-owned forests to a complete stop. This move will be gradually introduced across the entire country in the next few years, including all natural forests owned by the State. As a result, China’s demand for imported timber is bound to increase following the logging ban, and this growth is expected to begin to show in 2016 - 2017.

In addition, China is in the peak of its economic development, especially in the second, third and fourth-tier cities, pushing up the demand for wood, coupled with the recently announced ‘two-child policy’ that is poised to greatly stimulate the real estate market of first-tier cities. Therefore, the domestic demand for wood, as an important raw material for furniture and flooring, is believed to still see an upward growth trend. I am confident about the future of the timber industry.

Image © CIFM/interzum guangzhou

08. Do you have an idea of the volume of business that might be conducted at interzum Guangzhou 2016?

www.timberdesignandtechnology.com

December 2015

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62 SHOWTIME CALENDAR

Furniture Asia

Maison et Objet Paris

December 15 - 17 Karachi Expo Center Karachi, Pakistan www.furnitureasia.com.pk/index.htm

January 22 - 26, 2016 Parc des expositions de Paris - Nord Villepinte Paris, France www.maison-objet.com/en/paris

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Acetech

January Furniture Show

December 17 - 20 Pragati Maidan Delhi, India www.etacetech.com/index.html

January 24 - 27, 2016 NEC Birmingham Birmingham, UK www.januaryfurnitureshow.com

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Istanbul Furniture Fair

WOODEX 2016

January 12 - 17, 2016 Tüyap Fair and Convention Center, Büyükçekmece Istanbul, Turkey www.ismob.com.tr/en

January 31 - February 3, 2016 Tehran International Permanent Fairground Tehran, Iran http://en.miladgroup.net

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Door Fair 2016

FIMMA - MADERALIA 2016

January 14 - 17, 2016 Istanbul Expo Center Istanbul, Turkey www.doorfair.com

February 2 - 5, 2016 Feria Valencia - Pavilion 8, Pavilion 7 low and Pavilion 7 high Valencia, Spain http://fimma-maderalia.feriavalencia.com/en

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DOMOTEX Hannover

Dřevostavby 2016 (Wooden Buildings)

January 16 - 19, 2015 Hannover Exhibition Center Hannover, Germany www.domotex.de/en

February 4 - 7, 2016 Holešovice Fairground Prague, Czech Republic www.drevostavby.eu

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imm Cologne

FURNEX

January 18 - 24, 2016 Koelnmesse GmbH (Halls 1-11) Cologne, Germany www.imm-cologne.com/imm/index-2.php

February 4 - 7, 2016 Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Center (CICC) Cairo, Egypt www.furnexegypt.com

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FORMEX

Salon du Mobilier

January 20 - 23, 2016 Stockholm International Fairs and Congress Center Stockholm, Sweden www.formex.se

February 7 - 9, 2016 Nantes Parc des Expositions de La Beaujoire (EXPONANTES) Nantes, France www.salondumobilier.com

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Magna ExpoMueblera 2016

Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair

January 20 - 23, 2016 Centro Banamex Mexico City, Mexico www.magnaexpomueblera.mx/english

February 9 - 13, 2016 Stockholm International Fairs and Congress Center Stockholm, Sweden www.stockholmfurniturelightfair.se/?sc_lang=en

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December 2015

Image © Lester Ali Image © Lester Ali

Image © Lester Ali

Middle East Design. American Hardwood.

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Architects and designers all over the world have embraced American hardwoods for the range of colours, grains and textures they offer, as well as for their consistency in grade, quality and supply and their sustainable credentials.

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