Hüseyin Emre Ilgın

By Hüseyin Emre Ilgın and Markku Karjalainen

Increased use of engineered wood products (EWPs) and thus decreasing share of non-biobased materials such as concrete reduces the impact of buildings on the climate by mitigating the primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in construction. A construction project includes many parameters, where the selection of construction material is one of the crucial decisions with its numerous criteria e.g. cost, strength, environmental impact. Furthermore, this complicated process includes different parties such as architects, engineers, contractors. Architects are among the key decision-makers in material selection, and their perceptions influence what they propose and hence an increase in wood construction. In literature, many studies have been conducted on the technological, ecological, economic aspects of EWPs, while limited studies are focusing on EWPs for construction from stakeholders’ perspective. In this chapter, architects’ attitudes towards the use of EWPs in buildings were scrutinized.

Part of the book: Engineered Wood Products for Construction

By Lassi Tulonen, Markku Karjalainen and Hüseyin Emre Ilgın

This chapter examines tall residential buildings using engineered wood products (EWPs) in Finland. As specified in the National Building Code of Finland, ‘tall wooden building’ is defined as a structure with more than 8-story. Currently, there are two wooden residential buildings, 14-story Lighthouse Joensuu (2019) with laminated veneer lumber (LVL) structure and 13-story HOAS Tuuliniitty (under construction) with cross laminated timber (CLT) structure, that fit the definition above. This study analyses the phenomena associated with the design and implementation processes of these remarkable buildings, the starting points for the projects as well as the prospects of tall wooden housing in Finland through the case study method and interviews with the key actors in the projects. These cases are mapped with extremely detailed information, comprising a valuable source both for designers, engineers as well as developers. As a result, the current state-of-the-art and the critical factors influencing the design and implementation of these challenging sustainable projects in Finland have been identified. It is believed that this chapter will aid and direct key stakeholders in the construction industry in the sound planning and development of tall wooden residential projects in Finland.

Part of the book: Engineered Wood Products for Construction

By Hüseyin Emre Ilgın, Markku Karjalainen and Olli-Paavo Koponen

Engineered wood products (EWPs) have been progressively more being utilized in the construction industry as structural materials since the 1990s. In the content of EWPs, adhesives play an important role. However, because of their petroleum-based nature, adhesives contribute to toxic gas emissions such as formaldehyde and Volatile Organic Compounds, which are detrimental to the environment. Moreover, the frequent use of adhesives can cause other critical issues in terms of sustainability, recyclability, reusability, and further machining. In addition to this, metal connectors employed in EWPs harm their end-of-life disposal, reusability, and additional processing. This chapter is concentrating on dovetail massive wood elements (DMWE) as adhesive- and metal connector-free sustainable alternatives to commonly used EWPs e.g., CLT, LVL, MHM, Glulam. The dovetail technique has been a method of joinery mostly used in wood carpentry, including furniture, cabinets, log buildings, and traditional timber-framed buildings throughout its rich history. It is believed that this chapter will contribute to the uptake of DMWE for more diverse and innovative structural applications, thus the reduction in carbon footprint by increasing the awareness and uses of DMWE in construction.

Part of the book: Engineered Wood Products for Construction

By Markku Karjalainen, Hüseyin Emre Ilgın and Dennis Somelar

This chapter examined the various stages and benefits of wooden extra stories from the perspective of Finnish housing and real estate companies through interviews with professionals involved in these projects. Key findings highlighted are as follows: (1) in the feasibility study, project planning primarily focuses on property condition and potential improvement targets as well as other considerations, for example, compliance with current regulations and parking arrangements; (2) in the project planning, application of extra stories is thoroughly examined, and construction costs, profits, and the sale of building rights are discussed; (3) in implementation planning, issues related to building rights, city plan change, and conditions of the company that manages the property play an important role; and (4) during construction, frequent information updates are made to residents regarding the site arrangements and the construction program. Wooden extra floor construction, which requires commitment, investment, and cooperation among the interested parties, has great potential in construction technology, contracting mechanisms, and ecological engineering solutions. It is believed that this chapter will increase the dissemination of wooden extra stories, thus contributing to the greater use of more sustainable materials in renovation projects and the ecologically sensitive engineering approaches to meet the challenges arising from climate change.

Part of the book: Challenges in Agro-Climate and Ecosystem

By Markku Karjalainen, Hüseyin Emre Ilgın, Marie Yli-Äyhö and Anu Soikkeli

Increasing the construction of wooden apartment buildings has its place as part of preventing climate change. This chapter aims to explore the possibilities of expanding the construction of wooden apartment buildings on plots owned by the City of Helsinki in the Mellunkylä area by developing a series-produced wooden apartment building concept suitable for complementary construction—The Noppa concept. The sustainability of this approach is considered from the perspective of materials, construction methods, adaptability of the designed spaces, and housing design flexibility. In this study, the Noppa wooden apartment building concept with cross-laminated timber (CLT) elements has been developed varying in its facilities and architectural design features through architectural modeling programs to be used for complementary construction. The research findings are based on a theoretical approach that has not yet been practically tested but is proposed considering existing construction practices that need further investigation. It is believed that this chapter will contribute to the spread of wooden apartments to achieve a low-carbon economy as one of the key tools in tackling climate change problems. Particularly, proposed architectural design solutions will contribute to decarbonization of buildings as well as zero energy building (nZEB) approach.

Part of the book: Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB)

By Hüseyin Emre Ilgın, Markku Karjalainen and Olli-Paavo Koponen

Adhesives and metal fasteners have an important place in the content of engineered wood products (EWPs). However, adhesives may cause toxic gas emissions due to their petroleum-based nature, while metal fasteners may adversely affect the reusability of these products. These issues also raise important questions about the sustainability and environmental friendliness of EWPs. Thus, there is still room for a solution that is solid and completely pure wood, adhesive- and metal-connectors-free dovetail wood board elements (DWBEs). There are many studies on the technological, ecological, and economic aspects of these products in the literature, but no studies have been conducted to assess the technical performance of DWBEs. This chapter focuses on DWBEs by proposing various geometric configurations for horizontal structural members in multistory building construction through architectural modeling programs. In this architectural design phase, which is one of the first but most important stages, the proposed configurations are based on a theoretical approach, considering contemporary construction practices rather than structural analysis or mechanical simulation. Further research, including technical performance tests, will be undertaken after this critical phase. It is believed that this chapter will contribute to the dissemination of DWBEs for innovative architectural and structural applications, especially in multistory wooden structures construction.

Part of the book: Engineered Wood Products for Construction

By Hüseyin Emre Ilgın, Markku Karjalainen, Olli-Paavo Koponen and Anu Soikkeli

Construction work is very resource-intensive, and construction projects contain many parameters, in which the choice of building material is one of the critical decisions with numerous criteria, e.g., cost, durability, and environmental impact. Moreover, this complex process includes different parties such as contractors, architects, engineers, where contractors are the most influential decision-makers in material selection. Increasing the use of renewable materials such as wood, which is a technically, economically, and environmentally viable alternative in buildings, can make construction more sustainable. The perceptions of the contractors influence what they propose and therefore the increase in wood construction. With the increasing resource efficiency and the need to adapt to climate change in the construction industry, there is need for contractors to implement sustainable practices. In this chapter, contractors’ perceptions of the use of wood in buildings were examined. The results are expected to contribute to environmental remediation by developing strategies to counter perceived barriers and providing insight into new solutions to a conservative space and expanding the use of wood to achieve a more sustainable construction industry. In addition, recommendations for future research, e.g., adhesive- and metal-fastener-free dovetail wood board elements as sustainable material alternatives were presented.

Part of the book: Engineered Wood Products for Construction

By Hüseyin Emre Ilgın and Markku Karjalainen

Finland has a long history of massive wood construction such that the log construction technique has been used as a traditional method of Finnish residential construction for thousands of years, and the entire history of Finnish architecture is based on this technique. Today, almost all leisure buildings, for example, cottages in Finland are made of wood and mostly log construction. Also, today 90% of Finland’s detached houses have timber frames, and a quarter of them are made from industrial glue logs. Apartment buildings began to be made of wood, especially cross-laminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL). The most common way of constructing wooden apartments is to use volumetric elements as compared to load-bearing large elements and post-beam systems. The increase in environmental awareness in Finland, as in many European countries today, strengthens the popularity of wood construction, and this brings the search for innovative and environmentally friendly engineered wood product solutions (e.g., dovetail massive wood board elements) as a future vision. The chapter aims to identify, combine, and consolidate information about massive wood construction in Finland from past, present, and future perspectives. This study will assist and guide Finnish key professionals in the design and implementation of timber buildings.

Part of the book: Wood Industry