Endless November? Citizen Beliefs Concerning Wood As A Construction Material Under Extreme Weather Events

Climate change places great pressure on the construction sector to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions and to create solutions that perform well in changing weather conditions. In the urbanizing world, wood construction has been identified as one of the opportunities for mitigating these emissions. Our study explores citizen opinions on wood usage as a building material under expected mitigation and adaptation measures aimed at a changing climate and extreme weather events. The data are founded on an internet-based survey material collected from a consumer panel from Finland and Sweden during May–June 2021, with a total of 2015 responses. By employing exploratory factor analysis, we identified similar belief structures for the two countries, consisting of both positive and negative views on wood construction. In linear regressions for predicting these opinions, the perceived seriousness of climate change was found to increase positive views on wood construction but was insignificant for negative views. Both in Finland and Sweden, higher familiarity with wooden multistory construction was found to connect with more positive opinions on the potential of wood in building, e.g., due to carbon storage properties and material attributes. Our findings underline the potential of wood material use as one avenue of climate change adaptation in the built environment. Future research should study how citizens’ concerns for extreme weather events affect their future material preferences in their everyday living environments, also beyond the Nordic region.

Simulation of thermal comfort on public space and buildings around river in Banjarmasin-Indonesia

The climate and environmental aspects are one of the things that affect architectural products. The city as a gathering place that interacts for a particular purpose has influenced the shape and visual of the city. The density of buildings in a city has affected the urban microclimate. Urban get hotter than rural areas. Urban planners need to pay attention to several aspects related to the solution to the design of the humid tropics. The concept of greening the city evenly and thoroughly, so that the thermal is not too high that can affect comfort. In this research used Rhinoceros 5, Grasshopper, Ladybug, and ladybug for simulation and validation data of wet bulb temperature on a psychometric chart and CBE Thermal Comfort Tool from ASHRAE-55 standard. The purpose of this study used simulation is to facilitate and predict the thermal conditions of buildings and the environment. This application is also used by researchers and architect designers. Based on the simulation, the indoor maximum effective temperature and standard effective temperature are always uncomfortable zones. The building condition with wooden construction is higher of thermal comfort compared with concrete construction buildings and the wood construction is faster reaches maximum value compared to concrete construction.

The Cultural Messages of Pyramid House in Palembang

Pyramid House in Palembang is one of the works of art that is still very interesting to be researched today. The problem raised in this study aims to analyze the cultural message of the Pyramid House in Palembang. The method used is a qualitative method with a case study research design. The data collection techniques include observation, interviews, and document study. The results showed that in the manufacture of the Pyramid house, the main construction of traditional buildings used wood construction and a stilt system. The foundation used the construction of piles, the walls used boards, the roof used a leaf or shingle roof. The core parts consisted of the roof of the house, the door, the window, the stairs, and the floor of the house. In general, the typical architectural form of the Pyramid House, namely, the roof was shaped like a severed pyramid. Besides, the uniqueness of the house located in its multi-storey shape (kijing) and the walls were made of wood shaped like planks. Then related to the house name Pyramid, it contained two special meanings, namely, Five and Gold. The word five means the number five, while gold means the precious metal of great value. This is also a symbol of the function of the Pyramid house.

Factors Influencing the Sustainability of Wood-Based Constructions’ Use from the Perspective of Users

Traditional construction solutions face increasing competition from more ecological materials such as construction systems based on wood. Thanks to the numerous favourable properties of wood, wood construction enjoys great popularity and allows building economical and modern constructions that are durable and contribute to an ecological future. This study is motivated by the need for innovative solutions in construction and offers numerous findings based on examining actual constructions based on wood. By examining the interactions among selected factors of constructions and their users, the study reacts to the global challenges that call for increased efficiency and sustainability in construction. The examination of the interactions among the selected factors offers more extensive knowledge in the field of constructions based on wood and points towards possible innovative approaches for more sustainable housing and for a more efficient construction industry. The analyses showed that the key aspects that determine the sustainability of housing from the perspective of users are the standard of construction workmanship and construction time, which depend on the choice of construction system, cost-efficiency of use, and material composition and floor plan design. These aspects also interacted with other technical and design aspects, which also played an important role in the perception of housing sustainability.

Finnish architects' attitudes towards multi-storey timber-residential buildings

PurposeThe paper aims to understand Finnish architects' attitudes towards the use of timber as a structural material in multi-storey (over two--storeys high) residential construction.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted through a literature survey mainly including international peer-reviewed journals and similar research projects. Furthermore, the literature survey informed the generation of the web-based survey questionnaire design to gather information on architects' perceptions, attitudes and interest in the use of wood in multi-storey (over two-storeys high) residential buildings.FindingsThe paper's findings are as follows: (1) respondents perceived the most important advantages of wood as a lightweight, local and ecological material; (2) wood construction (compared to concrete) included perceived concerns about it being more costly and needing more complex engineering and (3) respondents had a favourable overall attitude towards the use of wood particularly in low-rise residential construction, whilst their perception of tall housing, including timber ones, was mostly negative.Originality/valueNo studies have evaluated the use of wood in tall residential buildings and architects' perceptions in Finland.

Developments in Tall Wood and Hybrid Buildings and Environmental Impacts

Wood has been gaining popularity as a building material over the last few decades. There has been significant progress in technology during this period to push the limits of wood construction. At the same time, it has become more economically competitive to build with wood beyond low-rises. As a result, there has been a noteworthy shift in public perception in terms of acceptance of wood as a material for high-rise buildings. There is a growing list of tall wood buildings that have been constructed in different continents over the last decade. With worldwide population growth and increased urbanization, the trend is expected to continue. Considerable urgency for using sustainable resources to tackle the threat of climate change has resulted in a surge in demand as well as applications in recent decades. This paper reviews the significant technical advances that have contributed to those achievements and are expected to facilitate further developments.

Community Use and Product Valuation of Forest Resources in Maasai Mau

Forests play an important role in the livelihoods of local people in most developing countries. Local communities depend on forest resources for various products such as fuel wood, construction materials, medicine, and food. The Maasai Mau forest plays an important role in supporting the livelihood of people living around the forest. Exploitation of forest resources should only be limited to active members. To reduce dependency on the forest, alternative means of livelihood should be provided to reduce dependency on the forest.