TROPICAL CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER APPLICATION THROUGH THE USE OF HYBRID CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is gaining popularity in Europe and America as the new sustainable material of today. Many low- to mid-rise, residential to commercial buildings have be built. Acknowledging the positive effects on embodied energy use and carbon emissions, this dissertation seeks to understand the feasibility of utilising CLT in Singapore through the manufacturing of tropical CLT, and analysing the various means of implementation. The study looks to justifying the need for tropical CLT and how to implement it to architecture in Singapore. This paper attempts to justify the tropical wood as a raw material while it looks at the process of manufacturing and means of implementing CLT buildings in Europe and America. From sustainable forestry to tropical CLT architecture, tropical CLT is both desirable and viable as a building material. Sustainable forestry is a crucial foundation for producing tropical CLT and it needs regional effort and enforcement. Singapore’s viable means of using tropical CLT would be to import lumber and manufacture locally. Through the use of hybrid system of CLT, glulam, concrete, and other materials, Singapore will be able to introduce CLT as a feasible building material while fulfilling today’s spatial and programmatic requirements.