A design competition called Timber in the City, architecture students across the country were tasked with designing a building that used alternatives to steel, namely fire-safe engineered "cross laminated timber." The designs were made with Red Hook, Brooklyn in mind as the build site, an area of land across from Swedish furniture retailer IKEA. The purpose of the competition was to get industry leaders and builders to "recognize the potential of larger-scale wood design and construction in cities."
The conditions of the competition were that each design had to use the CLT as the primary building material, include affordable housing units, a bike share shop, a facility for CLT production, and a digital production facility. The six finalists (first place, second place, and four honorable mentions) all created very different designs for the space but each included smart elements that, if polished, could potentially alter the way we think about industrial and residential design. To view details descriptions of each of the designs and to learn more about the project, you can view the Timber in the City competition page here.
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[via Curbed]
