Reflection 1 Engineered timber

I choose Engineered timber, also call Engineered wood, for my Reflection 1. It is a composite material includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands. It can be used for making wooden buildings instead of steel and concrete buildings. In addition, engineered timber doesn’t mean lumber, chipboard or plywood. It can be strong like steel but 80% lighter. More importantly, it can reduce a great amount of carbon-dioxide emissions and this kind of building can be name as “carbon negative”.

I find Engineered timber is very interesting and creative is because this material is very new to me and nowadays most of buildings are made of steel and concrete, especially in a modern city like New York. Wooden buildings usually exist in rural area. So when I imagine a city that is no longer full of steel and concrete instead of wood, it is a brand new experience to me. In addition, this material will also benefit the environment. The carbon-dioxide emissions is a main issue now. Using Engineered timber instead of concrete for buildings can decrease carbon-dioxide emissions and improve our environment.

However, I think Engineered timber still has some potential problems. For example, I am worried about whether there are enough trees to use and if we cut too many trees, this material still cannot solve the carbon-dioxide emissions problem because trees use photosynthesis convert carbon-dioxide into oxygen. In addition, the fire issue is also a problem. So I think people should add fireproofing layers into the timber and make it fire resistant.