Valldaura Labs has a new tool!

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is one of the key technologies revolutionizing wood architecture. Made from gluing together perpendicular layers of solid sawn lumber, CLT achieves large spans and can be used in walls, roofs and ceilings, offering extreme design flexibility. Being a panelized product, it is also well suited to pre-fabrication and relatively light, meaning on-site assembly can be completed quickly with minimal waste.

Perhaps most importantly, CLT meets the needs of contemporary construction in these ways while still maintaining the profound ecological benefits of using wood as a primary building material: sequestering carbon; capitalizing on renewable resources; performing well enough thermally to reduce the need for energy intensive mechanical conditioning systems; and being biodegradable. Further, when left exposed, it provides a naturally beautiful surface.

Therefore, combined with sustainable forest management practices, CLT proposes a true paradigm shift in contemporary architecture… and now it can be manufactured at Valldaura Labs with lumber harvested from the encompassing forest and processed directly on site!

The first major task for Valldaura Labs’ new press will be to fabricate CLT panels for use in the 2019 – 2020 Master of Advanced Ecological Buildings & Biocities final project, a self-sufficient quarantine cabin.