ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the technology of tall timber construction. It discusses the construction types available for wood construction of tall buildings, and it looks in more detail at the issue of dynamic response to loads. The development of steel released the opportunity to build to greater heights than ever before, and in the twentieth century, it was the material of choice for tall building construction. In the twenty-first century, with the need to build more sustainably and with the rise in energy costs, wood is being developed as a natural material for use in tall building construction. The world's tallest tree is a coastal redwood in Northern California, which is 115 metres tall. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a laminated solid wood product for structural load-bearing use consisting of layers of wood. Natural materials in general and timber in particular offer advantages in strength/stiffness to weight ratio, which leads to opportunities for prefabrication leading to fast, high quality construction.
