Speaker Background & Mission

• Architecture practice based in Vancouver, inspired by nature exploration
• Two main missions:
  • Create beautiful buildings serving community needs
  • Reduce environmental impact from construction
• Firm called "highly sustainable practice" but speaker rejects this label

Built Environment Environmental Impact

• Built environment consumes enormous amount of world's resources
• Vast majority of man-made materials go into built environment
• Buildings represent 39% of greenhouse gas emissions globally
• In North America: buildings create almost 50% of greenhouse gas emissions
• Transportation sector (cars, planes, automobiles) only 23% for comparison
• Impact comes from both heating/cooling operations and construction materials

Current Building Materials Analysis

• Four major structural materials in every city: concrete, steel, masonry, wood
• Three materials (concrete, steel, masonry) have very high carbon footprints
• Wood is only renewable resource that sequesters carbon
• Wood is only pathway to carbon neutral buildings
• Speaker's practice has been timber-only since inception

Tallwood Building Advocacy

• Speaker wrote "The Case for Tallwood Buildings" 15 years ago
• Initially unlikely concept, now mainstream globally
• Hundreds of tallwood buildings built or under construction
• Thousands more planned
• Could have built Empire State Building entirely from wood

Limitations of Wood Solution

• Wood sustainability depends on sustainable forest practices
• Many global forests need to remain standing for climate solution
• Many forests under threat globally
• Population growth areas often lack forests or have threatened forests
• Wood not viable global solution for most cities

Current Material Improvement Efforts

• Concrete carbon footprint can be reduced 10-35% at best
• Steel improvements also modest
• Far from carbon neutrality or carbon sequestering goals
• Need alternative to "Big Four" materials

Introduction to "Five" Material

• Fifth structural material to replace Big Four over time
• All-organic material from forests and crops grown worldwide
• Strong, safe, eventually cost-effective and competitive
• Based on studying nature's structures + modern biotechnology + computer modeling

How Five Works - Natural Inspiration

• Based on tree/vascular plant structure concept
• Trees made of lignified tissues from bottom to top
• Cell structure contains cellulose fibers and lignin for strength
• Fiber and lignin are key ingredients of Five material

Structural Efficiency Analysis

• Nature creates efficient round structures (like branches)
• Humans build boxy structures because current materials more efficient as boxes
• Typical structures: columns, beams, slabs in boxy forms
• Forces: compression (blue), tension (yellow)
• Structural stress plots show natural flowing patterns
• Current boxy construction creates ~27% material waste in example
• Multiplied by 40 years of future construction = incredible waste

Five Material Production Process

• Plant fibers from: trees, plants, grass, bamboo, waste wood, forest understory clearing
• Combined with organic binders and lignin
• Computer models design efficiency, eliminate waste
• Custom robotics create unique parts (not cookie-cutter)
• Each building component uses exact material needed, no more

Material Composition & Structure

• Microscopic layering of plant fibers (millimeter long)
• Cross-laminated fiber arrangement
• Customizable composition based on structural models
• Combined with organic polymers and lignin
• Behaves like tree structure
• Strong, dense material

Manufacturing Innovation

• Robotic forms with fabric forms (red fabric)
• Moves in/out for complete customization
• Each building piece can be completely unique
• Reduces structural waste

Final Product Characteristics

• Entirely plant-based structure
• Healthy and beautiful environment
• Shapes are structural essentials, not decoration
• Safe occupancy
• Carbon sequestering (climate solution)
• Uses fewer resources
• Less environmental impact
• Creates strong, healthy communities efficiently

Vision for Future

• Cannot continue fixing broken systems
• Must imagine new solutions before resources run out
• Moving from industrial revolution to "Mother Nature's revolution of materials"
• Opportunity to live in completely biological world
• Growing community of biomaterial companies and products
• New materials introduced daily
• Can solve human need and planetary need simultaneously
• Solution: listen to nature and let her teach us