Jul 30, 20265min
0Mass Timber vs Concrete at 12 Storeys: What Dartmouth’s Feasibility Study Found
A new side-by-side study tests first cost, schedule, finance and embodied carbon for a proposed 12-storey rental building.
Dec 9, 20256 min
How I Started Building a House and Ended Up Building Software.
The story of how a gold-flake-water-drinking architect's useless napkin sketch drove a DIYer to build his own browser-based timber frame design software from scratch.
Recent
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wood-Fibre Panels vs Conventional Envelopes Across North American Climates
A new modelling study tests whether prefabricated wood-fibre insulated panels save energy from cold Canada to hot-humid regions.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Mass Timber vs Conventional Civic Construction: What 500 County Center Actually Saved
A California civic office earned LEED Platinum in May 2026. Its timber comparison is strongest when schedule, embodied carbon and operational energy stay separate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Rain Does Not Stop at the Surface: CAT Scans Show How CLT Gets Wet
New CAT-scan research maps moisture paths inside rain-exposed CLT and explains why surface readings are not the whole story.
Jul 30, 20264min
0All Mass Timber Is Not the Same: A Beginner’s Guide to Species, Grades and Bonding
A May 2026 review shows why “mass timber” describes a family of products, not one interchangeable material.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wooden Dowels vs Metal Fasteners: A Beginner’s Guide to Timber-Only Connections
May 2026 tests compare wooden-dowel capacity with design models and show where timber-only connections offer circular potential.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Does CLT Always Sound Hollow? What New Listening Tests Found
A 2026 listening study turns simulated footsteps and jumps into design evidence for quieter cross-laminated timber floors.
Jul 30, 20265min
0The Hive Reaches Structural Completion: How a Timber Tower Recenters After an Earthquake
Vancouver’s ten-storey timber office uses perimeter glulam braces and self-centering connections to manage earthquake forces without a conventional concrete core.
Jul 30, 20263min
1The Big Viking Wood Puzzle
How Vikings invented timber framing—with no nails, just stubbornness, mead, and the mighty mortise-and-tenon.
Jul 30, 20264min
1Ireland Lays the Groundwork for a “Wood First” Policy in Public Projects
Ireland’s Timber in Construction Steering Group has delivered a seven-point roadmap covering regulation, procurement, carbon, skills and industry capacity. Its proposed “Wood First” approach would make timber the first material considered for public projects—not an automatic choice and not yet a nationwide mandate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Jul 30, 20269min
0The Hollow-Chisel Mortiser: Your New Best Friend for 100 Perfect Mortises (Before Lunch)
The hollow-chisel mortiser is the ultimate time-saving, precision-boosting tool for timber framers. Here’s why it beats hand-chopping in speed, accuracy, and sanity—featuring Sven & Olaf’s legendary woodworking wisdom.
Jul 30, 20263min
0France Publishes a New Test Route for Timber-Frame Façades
FCBA’s 2026 guidance gives manufacturers and project teams a clearer way to verify how external cladding behaves on timber-frame façades under deformation and wind-driven rain.
Jul 30, 20265min
0France Wants Timber on the Podium for the 2030 Winter Olympics
The France Bois 2030 mission is turning the French Alps Winter Games into a test of local timber supply, low-carbon procurement and long-term reuse. Launched in 2026, it aims to help project teams specify French wood without repeating avoidable mistakes from Paris 2024.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Bouygues and FCBA Renew a Three-Year Push to Scale Timber Construction
Bouygues Bâtiment France, Linkcity and FCBA have renewed their strategic partnership through 2029, targeting technical validation, regulation and the large-scale deployment of timber buildings.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Italy Tests a Hybrid Timber System for Taller, Earthquake-Resilient Buildings
The HyWood4Buildings research project combines solid-sawn timber walls with a steel–timber lateral system, aiming to use local wood more efficiently in taller and reusable structures.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Norway Leads €4.2 Million Push to Turn Reclaimed Timber into New Buildings
The SINTEF-led ReCLAiMiT project starts in September 2026 with a European research programme for assessing, dismantling and remanufacturing structural timber instead of burning or downcycling it.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Norway Opens €200,000 Call for Zero-Waste Timber Construction Ideas
The NIBIO-coordinated WoodStock project will fund four European teams with up to €50,000 each to test circular products and building systems that use underutilised wood.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Oslo Adds Two Timber Storeys to a 150-Year-Old Building
Øvre Vollgate 11 combines a protected masonry structure with new glulam trusses and mass-timber floors, showing how lightweight prefabrication can unlock urban extensions.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Romania’s Timber Industry Calls for 25% Wood in Every New Public Building
ASFOR is asking Romania to require wood products to represent at least 25% of the value of each new public building. The 2026 proposal could reshape procurement, but it is an industry position—not an adopted law.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Predazzo’s Olympic Village Builds Its Legacy in Timber
The 2026 Winter Games village in Predazzo combines new timber and steel accommodation with renovated historic buildings, then returns the permanent campus to the Guardia di Finanza after the athletes leave.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Romania’s nZEB Expo Gives Timber Construction a 352-Square-Metre Platform
At nZEB Expo 2026 in Bucharest, the Wood Hub became the event’s dedicated Timber Partner. The expanded platform connected timber-frame manufacturers, engineered-wood specialists and energy-efficient construction audiences.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Munich’s 27,500 m² Sun Office Moves Ahead as a Timber Hybrid
Glulam, CLT and timber-concrete ribbed slabs form the structural system of Sun, a large Munich workplace designed around renewable energy and flexible floorplates.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Shakespeare Gets a Curved Mass-Timber Stage in New York’s Hudson Valley
The 451-seat Scripps Theater Center opens beneath a bird-wing-inspired timber grid shell designed to frame both performance and landscape.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Romania Already Has Rules for CLT Buildings—What Designers Need to Know in 2026
Romania’s timber design regulation includes specific provisions for cross-laminated timber walls, openings and product documentation. The challenge in 2026 is turning those clauses into coordinated, verifiable project workflows.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Britain Imports Most of Its Timber—Could Homegrown C16 Change the Specification?
The Forestry Commission says roughly 75–80% of the timber consumed in the UK is imported. New 2026 guidance argues that homegrown C16 timber is suitable for many structural applications if it is specified early.
Jul 30, 20263min
0London’s 4 Arbour Street Opens with a Hybrid CLT and Low-Carbon Concrete Structure
The first office building at Brent Cross Town is now open. Its structure combines cross-laminated timber slabs with precast concrete beams and columns, offering a practical case study in hybrid material design.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Bellway Opens Robotic Timber-Frame Factory Built to Supply 3,000 Homes a Year
Bellway Home Space has begun supplying timber-frame kits from a 135,000-square-foot factory in Nottinghamshire. The housebuilder plans to scale output to around 3,000 homes annually by 2030, bringing robotic off-site manufacturing into its mainstream delivery model.
Jul 29, 20263min
0England’s Future Homes Standard Is Here: Why Timber Frame Could Gain from a Fabric-First Race
England published the Future Homes and Buildings Standards in March 2026. Heat pumps, solar generation and tighter performance rules put envelope quality and repeatable off-site construction under pressure.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Canada puts mass timber inside its 2026 forest-sector reset
A federal transformation task force, new manufacturing investments and a renewed housing-focused wood programme place mass timber and prefabrication inside Canada’s industrial strategy—not just its architecture pages.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Timber Design Software Attracts A$3 Million: Why Investors Backed SPEC Toolbox
Australia’s SPEC Toolbox raised A$3 million in January 2026 to expand a structural-design platform that began with mass timber and now connects engineers with verified product data.
Jul 29, 20265min
0Two Robots, 352 Screws: LASER Schedules a Full-Scale Timber Slab
University of Stuttgart researchers coordinated two robots to assemble a 2.4-by-6-metre timber slab through 108 subroutines and 352 screws, while respecting collisions and adhesive time limits.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Atlassian Central tops out at 180 metres—and resets the hybrid timber record
Sydney’s 39-storey Atlassian Central reached full structural height on 22 July 2026. At more than 180 metres, the timber–steel–concrete tower tests whether prefabricated “habitats” can scale inside a global office landmark.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Zurich’s Pink CLT Railway Yard Was Assembled in Just Five Months
Remise Rosa turns an abandoned rail site into a 2,500-square-metre social destination using CNC-cut timber, bridges, terraces and an unapologetically pink finish.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Finland’s Award-Winning Puusauna Lets Whole Trees Carry the Roof
Jaakko Torvinen’s island sauna combines hand-hewn logs, CLT, glulam and minimally processed tree trunks in a structural experiment with crooked wood.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Amsterdam’s The Ark Starts Building 125 Apartments With 3,264 m³ of Timber
Seven timber residential levels, exposed wood interiors and more than 3,200 cubic metres of CLT and glulam make The Ark a major urban housing test.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Three Global Studies Redraw the Tall-Timber Map in 2026
New datasets covering 56, 79 and 258 buildings quantify material intensity, structural systems and recurring tower types—replacing isolated records with a broader global picture.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Norway’s SenseWood project wants drones to spot timber façade trouble early
Launched in January 2026, SenseWood combines hyperspectral imaging, microclimate models and digital twins to predict moisture, fungal and fire-protection degradation on timber façades.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Brunssum Builds Eight Storeys of Timber for 39 Social-Rental Homes
De Wilde Tuin uses a CLT core, timber frame and prefabricated façades to place affordable housing and a rain garden on a former petrol-station site.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Toronto Installs a 210-Kilogram Robot for Full-Scale Mass-Timber Fabrication
The University of Toronto’s first industrial-scale timber-fabrication robot combines a 3.5-metre reach, 210-kilogram payload and 0.06-millimetre repeatability.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Under Armour’s Baltimore headquarters turns mass timber into workplace infrastructure
A March 2026 supplier update provides a fresh look at the 280,000 ft² Baltimore campus, where visible CLT and glulam sit alongside geothermal wells, solar power and off-site coordination.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Solibri’s 2026 reset puts model checking before the expensive timber mistake
Solibri launched a new platform on 13 April 2026 with cloud-connected checking, point-cloud support and a browser-based WebChecker beta. Timber prefabrication gives those features unusually high stakes.
Jul 29, 20265min
0The Hague Signs Off on a 76-Metre Timber Government Tower
A 19-storey office for the Dutch education ministry and DUO will combine a timber structure, natural ventilation, prefabrication and a digital twin.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Tekla 2026 adds AI to structural BIM—please keep an engineer in the loop
Trimble’s March 2026 release adds AI-assisted fabrication drawings, natural-language modelling previews and cloud settings. The timber opportunity is real, provided automation never becomes anonymous.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Europe Backs Robot-Built Timber Housing with Digital Twins and AI
The EU-funded PTAH project will test robotic microfactories, digital twins and adaptive construction in a two-storey timber demonstrator.
Jul 28, 20262min
05G-TIMBER Connects AI, Digital Twins and Timber Factories
A European research programme has tested 5G networks, AI and digital twins across timber production and building assembly.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Can Timber Help Europe’s Housing Crisis? EU Projects Target the Skills Gap
Two EU LIFE projects are building the training, local supply chains and practical knowledge needed to use more wood in affordable and social housing.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Austria’s Ybbs Mill Passes One Million Cubic Metres of CLT
Stora Enso reports that its Ybbs mill has delivered one million cubic metres of cross-laminated timber, a major industrial milestone for European mass timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0The LIMBER Act Could Bring US Mass Timber a $5-per-Square-Foot Tax Credit
A 2026 bill in Congress proposes federal tax credits for mass-timber factories, workforce training and qualifying buildings—but it has not become law.
Jul 28, 20262min
0USDA Backs Timber Production with $115.2 Million Across Eight States
Federal loan guarantees announced in March 2026 will support sawmills and wood processors while linking rural manufacturing to forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Inside WOODWISE: Full-Scale Fire Tests Put Mass Timber to the Test
USDA researchers and partners are burning room-sized CLT compartments to measure fire behaviour, emissions and the effect of exposed versus encapsulated timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0California’s First DLT Producer Turns Underused Trees into Building Panels
Mad River Mass Timber is producing dowel-laminated timber in California, creating a potential market for underused local species without structural adhesives.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Theodore Roosevelt’s Mass Timber Library Opens in the Badlands
Snøhetta’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opens on 4 July 2026 with a mass-timber and steel structure, rammed earth walls and a planted roof.
Jul 28, 20262min
0EUDR Goes Live for Timber in 2026: What the New EU Rules Require
The EU Deforestation Regulation reaches its first application deadline on 30 December 2026, making traceability, geolocation and due diligence central issues for timber supply chains.
Jul 28, 20263min
0BuildSpec Brings Structure, Cost and Carbon into Concept Design
Mercer Mass Timber’s BuildSpec lets project teams test hybrid CLT and cold-formed-steel configurations early, producing preliminary quantities, costs and embodied-carbon estimates before detailed engineering.
Jul 28, 20263min
0SITCA Launches a Global Science–Industry Alliance for Timber Construction
Launched in Vienna in July 2026, the Science and Timber Construction Alliance brings researchers and major companies together to study wood resources, carbon storage and the sustainable expansion of timber buildings.
Jul 28, 20263min
0PEFC Introduces Traceability Certification for Individual Construction Projects
PEFC ST 2102:2026 applies Chain of Custody principles at project level, allowing complex buildings to document certified timber across multiple suppliers, subcontractors and products.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Mass Timber Laboratory Meets Demanding Vibration-Control Requirements
Oregon State University’s 143,000-square-foot research complex uses mass plywood panels in floors engineered for sensitive equipment, extending mass timber into a building type normally associated with concrete.
Jul 28, 20263min
0TRÆ Pairs a Timber Tower with Reclaimed Aluminium and Wind-Turbine Blades
The 20-level, 78-metre TRÆ building in Aarhus combines a timber-led hybrid structure with reused façade materials and turbine-blade sunshades, offering a pragmatic model for circular high-rise construction.
Jul 28, 20263min
0California Links Mass Timber Growth to Forest and Wildfire Strategy
California’s first statewide Mass Timber Coalition connects building demand with forest health, wildfire-risk reduction, local CLT and glulam manufacturing, workforce development and regulatory reform.
Jul 28, 20263min
0US Bill Proposes Federal Incentives for Mass Timber Buildings
The Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act of 2026 would create contracting preferences for federal projects using innovative wood products. It could influence public, renovation and military construction, but remains a bill—not adopted law.
Jul 28, 20261min
0Australia Tests Light Timber Frame Buildings Up to 15 Metres
The Future Framing Initiative is developing the evidence and standards needed to extend light timber framing into 4–5-storey apartments, schools and aged-care buildings, with a target pathway into the 2028 National Construction Code.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Proposed Fire Rules Could Restrict Timber Buildings Above 11 Metres in England
England is consulting on changes to Approved Document B that would remove its standard guidance route for combustible structural elements above 11 metres. The proposal could reshape even modest mid-rise timber projects, but it is not a final ban.
Jun 8, 202610min
0Why AI Still Struggles With Real Timber-Frame Design — And Why That Matters
AI can generate a beautiful timber house in seconds. But can it place the posts correctly, align the plates, respect structural logic, and produce something a builder can actually cut? That is where things get interesting.
Jun 8, 20267min
02026: The Year Timber Construction Becomes Mainstream — Yes, Really
Timber construction is no longer just for cabins, eco-retreats, and people who own too many chisels. In 2026, wood is moving into cities, policies, insurance reports, factories, and serious construction pipelines. Here’s why timber may finally be crossing from niche to normal.
Dec 16, 20258min
0Festool’s Hidden Gem: The Domino XL DF 700 for Timber Frame Bracing — Yes, Really
The Domino XL (DF 700) isn’t a replacement for traditional mortise-and-tenon—but it is a surprisingly useful “plan B” for temporary bracing, non-structural timber details, and repair work. Here’s where it shines, where it doesn’t, and how to use it without upsetting the timber gods.
Dec 14, 20258min
0Tool Tracking for Timber Teams: Why Bluetooth Tags Are the New “Where’s the Framing Square?” Fix
Timber framing crews lose up to 7% of weekly productivity searching for tools. Bluetooth trackers are the simplest, funniest, and most effective way to stop the disappearing-square epidemic forever.
Dec 14, 20256min
0Chisels, Slicks, and Squares: Your First 5 Hand Tools for Timber Framing (and Why Your Grandpa Was Right)
Your first five hand tools for timber framing—framing square, chisels, slick, marking knife, and wooden mallet—are more than nostalgia. They’re precision instruments that still outperform power tools when joinery really matters.
Dec 14, 20258min
0Barr vs. Narex: The Ultimate Timber Frame Chisel Showdown (Tested on Real White Oak)
We put two legends of timber framing—Barr Tools and Narex—to a real workshop test: white oak, end grain, identical mortises. One costs €145, the other €32. Here’s what actually matters.
Dec 12, 20256min
0Mallets, Adzes, and Marking Knives: The Quiet Power Tools You’re Underestimating
Power tools scream, but traditional hand tools whisper—and still deliver joinery accuracy down to fractions of a millimeter. Meet the mallet, adze, and marking knife: three timeless tools that shape timber with precision, control, and zero battery anxiety.
Dec 12, 20258min
0DeWalt, Makita, or Milwaukee? The 2025 Timber Framer’s Power Tool Trifecta — Decoded
Choosing between DeWalt, Makita, and Milwaukee in 2025 isn’t about brand loyalty—it’s about torque, battery ecosystems, durability, and how each tool performs in real timber framing conditions. Here’s the honest breakdown.
Dec 12, 20257min
0Milwaukee’s ‘Brute Force’ vs. DeWalt’s ‘Atomic Speed’: Which Philosophy Fits Your Timber Framing Style?
Milwaukee brings brute-force torque. DeWalt brings hyper-efficient speed. We tested both on real timber framing tasks—white oak (6×8 in / 150×200 mm), structural lag screws, wet weather, and long battery cycles—to see which tool matches your building style.
Dec 12, 20259min
0Makita’s Secret Weapon: Why Their 18V Ecosystem Is the Smart Choice for Startups (and Budget-Conscious Pros)
One battery, 200+ tools, zero chaos. Here’s why Makita’s 18V LXT ecosystem is the smartest path for startups, small workshops, and builders who want pro performance without breaking the bank.
Dec 11, 202510min
0DeWalt’s 2025 Multi-Head Drill Driver: One Tool to Rule All the Tight Spaces (Yes, Even Inside a Mortise)
DeWalt’s new 2025 DCD799 Multi-Head Drill Driver is a shape-shifting compact tool built for tight spaces, awkward angles, and impossible timber-frame joints. With four interchangeable heads, surprising torque, and a tiny 5.3 in (135 mm) body, it’s quickly becoming the most versatile drill of the year.
Dec 11, 202510min
0Dust Ain’t Just Dirt—It’s a Liability: Why Your Dust Collection System Is Non-Negotiable (and What’s New in 2025)
Dust isn’t just mess—it’s a health hazard, a machine killer, and a hidden liability. Here’s why modern dust collection systems in 2025 are smarter, quieter, safer, and absolutely essential for timber framing workshops of any size.
Dec 11, 20256min
0WMS 2025 Recap: The 5 Most Exciting Timber Frame Innovations (and 1 That Made Us Say “Wait, What?”)
A fast, funny, builder-grade recap of the best (and strangest) timber framing innovations revealed at WMS 2025—from contactless blade safety to on-bed CNC labeling and modular beam saws that scale with your shop.
Dec 11, 20259min
0Budget ≠ Bad: 7 Affordable Tools That Won’t Die on Day 2 (and 1 Dangerous Drill You Must Avoid)
Not all cheap tools are junk. These 7 budget-friendly workshop heroes deliver real performance—plus one dangerously bad drill you should remove from your shop today.
Dec 11, 20257min
0The “One Battery Platform” Rule: Why Mixing Brands Is a Startup’s Biggest (and Costliest) Mistake
Starting a workshop with three tool brands, five chargers, and seven incompatible batteries sounds harmless—until your drill clicks dead on a jobsite. Here’s why choosing one battery ecosystem saves time, money, and sanity.
Dec 11, 20256min
0Festool vs. Makita Sander Showdown: Is $400 Worth Zero Vibration & Perfect Dust Capture?
A clear, real-world comparison between the Festool ETS 150/3 EQ and the Makita BO5041K. We test vibration, dust collection, finish quality, ergonomics, and long-term value to reveal when paying extra truly makes sense.
Dec 10, 20256min
0Wood vs. Steel: The Exact Calculation of Embodied Carbon Reduction in Mass Timber Structures
A data-driven breakdown of how much carbon mass timber truly saves compared to steel and concrete, backed by real LCAs from award-winning buildings.
Dec 9, 20258min
0From Thatch to Tile Backer Panels: How to Protect Timber Structures for the Long Haul
Behind every long-lasting timber structure lies an invisible defense system against moisture, UV, insects, and decay. From ancient thatch to modern backer panels, this is the science of durability.
Dec 9, 20254min
0Timber Titans: 2025’s Wooden Buildings With Big Personalities
Meet the nurturing mom, the gym-bro tower, and the anxious eco-city starring in 2025’s mass-timber soap opera.
Dec 9, 20258min
0Top 10 Timber Projects by Think Wood: What the Most Awarded Wooden Buildings of 2024 Teach Us About Excellence
From NBA training centers to university labs and iconic arenas, Think Wood’s Top 10 Timber Projects of 2024 reveal how mass timber has become the gold standard for sustainable, high-performance architecture.
Dec 9, 20259min
0From Rustic Cabin to Massive Stadium: The Spectacular Evolution of Timber Structures
Once used for small cabins and barns, timber now supports massive stadiums, skyscrapers, and research centers. This is the story of how wood became one of the most advanced structural materials on Earth.
Dec 9, 20259min
0Expo Osaka 2025: How Sou Fujimoto Built the World’s Largest Wooden Structure
At Expo Osaka 2025, architect Sou Fujimoto unveiled the Grand Ring — a record-breaking 60-meter tall circular timber megastructure. Here’s how ancient Japanese joinery, digital design and mass timber engineering made it possible.
Dec 9, 202510min
0Biophilia in Buildings: How Timber Structures Boost Wellbeing and Productivity
Modern timber buildings don’t just look good—they actively improve how we feel and perform. Discover the science behind biophilia, why real wood changes the brain, and how timber design boosts wellbeing, focus, and recovery.
Dec 9, 20257min
0From Historic Restoration to Contemporary Vision: 5 Wooden Structures That Shape the Future
Five extraordinary wooden projects prove that timber can preserve history, protect ruins, empower communities, and build the future—without losing its soul. Sven and Olaf approve.
Dec 9, 202510min
0The Perfect Tool Kit for a Timberframe-Style Pergola (Imperial + Metric)
Build a real timberframe-style pergola in one weekend using modern tools and hardware. This complete imperial + metric tool list covers layout, cutting, assembly, and finishing—no fantasy tools, only what actually works on site.
Dec 9, 202510min
0Start a Timber Frame Business Under $50,000
Learn how to launch a small timber frame shop on a lean budget: tools, workspace, pricing, marketing and a first-year roadmap without going broke.
Dec 9, 20257min
0Timber Homes That Belong: How to Build Like a Local
Tired of fake chalets and cosplay cabins? Discover how modern timber homes can actually belong to their landscape instead of looking like confused tourists.
Nov 29, 20255min
0Traditional Joinery & Japanese/Scandinavian Influence – The Craft That Gives Soul to a Timberframe
Japanese precision, Scandinavian simplicity, and traditional craftsmanship — the magic inside every soulful timberframe structure.
Nov 29, 20253min
0Curved Beams & Organic Shapes – The Timberframe Revolution
Curved beams, fluid shapes, and organic timberframe design taking over 2025 architecture.
Nov 28, 20255min
0When Our Ancestors Started Notching Logs: The Story of a 476,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure
Archaeologists discovered a notched wooden structure dated to 476,000 years ago — proving early hominins built the earliest known timber framing long before Homo sapiens existed.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Nov 12, 20256min
0Dark Timber & Open Living: 2025’s Hottest Timber Frame Design Trends for Modern Homes
Dark beams, open layouts, and smart details redefining modern timber frame living in 2025.
Nov 8, 20255min
0Beyond the Barn: Global Timber Frame Trends 2025
Global timber frame trends for 2025—Japan to Scandinavia, curves, modern rustic, gardens, and biophilic design.
Oct 13, 20255min
2I Thought a Tape Measure Was Optional… Until My Shed Looked Like It Was Doing the Samba
A hilariously true tale of DIY timber framing gone wrong—and the tools that saved my shed (and my marriage).
Construction
Jul 30, 20265min
0Mass Timber vs Concrete at 12 Storeys: What Dartmouth’s Feasibility Study Found
A new side-by-side study tests first cost, schedule, finance and embodied carbon for a proposed 12-storey rental building.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wood-Fibre Panels vs Conventional Envelopes Across North American Climates
A new modelling study tests whether prefabricated wood-fibre insulated panels save energy from cold Canada to hot-humid regions.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Rain Does Not Stop at the Surface: CAT Scans Show How CLT Gets Wet
New CAT-scan research maps moisture paths inside rain-exposed CLT and explains why surface readings are not the whole story.
Jul 30, 20264min
0All Mass Timber Is Not the Same: A Beginner’s Guide to Species, Grades and Bonding
A May 2026 review shows why “mass timber” describes a family of products, not one interchangeable material.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wooden Dowels vs Metal Fasteners: A Beginner’s Guide to Timber-Only Connections
May 2026 tests compare wooden-dowel capacity with design models and show where timber-only connections offer circular potential.
Jul 30, 20265min
0The Hive Reaches Structural Completion: How a Timber Tower Recenters After an Earthquake
Vancouver’s ten-storey timber office uses perimeter glulam braces and self-centering connections to manage earthquake forces without a conventional concrete core.
Jul 30, 20263min
1The Big Viking Wood Puzzle
How Vikings invented timber framing—with no nails, just stubbornness, mead, and the mighty mortise-and-tenon.
Jul 30, 20264min
1Ireland Lays the Groundwork for a “Wood First” Policy in Public Projects
Ireland’s Timber in Construction Steering Group has delivered a seven-point roadmap covering regulation, procurement, carbon, skills and industry capacity. Its proposed “Wood First” approach would make timber the first material considered for public projects—not an automatic choice and not yet a nationwide mandate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Jul 30, 20263min
0France Publishes a New Test Route for Timber-Frame Façades
FCBA’s 2026 guidance gives manufacturers and project teams a clearer way to verify how external cladding behaves on timber-frame façades under deformation and wind-driven rain.
Jul 30, 20265min
0France Wants Timber on the Podium for the 2030 Winter Olympics
The France Bois 2030 mission is turning the French Alps Winter Games into a test of local timber supply, low-carbon procurement and long-term reuse. Launched in 2026, it aims to help project teams specify French wood without repeating avoidable mistakes from Paris 2024.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Bouygues and FCBA Renew a Three-Year Push to Scale Timber Construction
Bouygues Bâtiment France, Linkcity and FCBA have renewed their strategic partnership through 2029, targeting technical validation, regulation and the large-scale deployment of timber buildings.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Italy Tests a Hybrid Timber System for Taller, Earthquake-Resilient Buildings
The HyWood4Buildings research project combines solid-sawn timber walls with a steel–timber lateral system, aiming to use local wood more efficiently in taller and reusable structures.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Norway Leads €4.2 Million Push to Turn Reclaimed Timber into New Buildings
The SINTEF-led ReCLAiMiT project starts in September 2026 with a European research programme for assessing, dismantling and remanufacturing structural timber instead of burning or downcycling it.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Norway Opens €200,000 Call for Zero-Waste Timber Construction Ideas
The NIBIO-coordinated WoodStock project will fund four European teams with up to €50,000 each to test circular products and building systems that use underutilised wood.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Oslo Adds Two Timber Storeys to a 150-Year-Old Building
Øvre Vollgate 11 combines a protected masonry structure with new glulam trusses and mass-timber floors, showing how lightweight prefabrication can unlock urban extensions.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Romania’s Timber Industry Calls for 25% Wood in Every New Public Building
ASFOR is asking Romania to require wood products to represent at least 25% of the value of each new public building. The 2026 proposal could reshape procurement, but it is an industry position—not an adopted law.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Predazzo’s Olympic Village Builds Its Legacy in Timber
The 2026 Winter Games village in Predazzo combines new timber and steel accommodation with renovated historic buildings, then returns the permanent campus to the Guardia di Finanza after the athletes leave.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Romania’s nZEB Expo Gives Timber Construction a 352-Square-Metre Platform
At nZEB Expo 2026 in Bucharest, the Wood Hub became the event’s dedicated Timber Partner. The expanded platform connected timber-frame manufacturers, engineered-wood specialists and energy-efficient construction audiences.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Munich’s 27,500 m² Sun Office Moves Ahead as a Timber Hybrid
Glulam, CLT and timber-concrete ribbed slabs form the structural system of Sun, a large Munich workplace designed around renewable energy and flexible floorplates.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Shakespeare Gets a Curved Mass-Timber Stage in New York’s Hudson Valley
The 451-seat Scripps Theater Center opens beneath a bird-wing-inspired timber grid shell designed to frame both performance and landscape.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Romania Already Has Rules for CLT Buildings—What Designers Need to Know in 2026
Romania’s timber design regulation includes specific provisions for cross-laminated timber walls, openings and product documentation. The challenge in 2026 is turning those clauses into coordinated, verifiable project workflows.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Britain Imports Most of Its Timber—Could Homegrown C16 Change the Specification?
The Forestry Commission says roughly 75–80% of the timber consumed in the UK is imported. New 2026 guidance argues that homegrown C16 timber is suitable for many structural applications if it is specified early.
Jul 30, 20263min
0London’s 4 Arbour Street Opens with a Hybrid CLT and Low-Carbon Concrete Structure
The first office building at Brent Cross Town is now open. Its structure combines cross-laminated timber slabs with precast concrete beams and columns, offering a practical case study in hybrid material design.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Bellway Opens Robotic Timber-Frame Factory Built to Supply 3,000 Homes a Year
Bellway Home Space has begun supplying timber-frame kits from a 135,000-square-foot factory in Nottinghamshire. The housebuilder plans to scale output to around 3,000 homes annually by 2030, bringing robotic off-site manufacturing into its mainstream delivery model.
Jul 29, 20263min
0England’s Future Homes Standard Is Here: Why Timber Frame Could Gain from a Fabric-First Race
England published the Future Homes and Buildings Standards in March 2026. Heat pumps, solar generation and tighter performance rules put envelope quality and repeatable off-site construction under pressure.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Timber Design Software Attracts A$3 Million: Why Investors Backed SPEC Toolbox
Australia’s SPEC Toolbox raised A$3 million in January 2026 to expand a structural-design platform that began with mass timber and now connects engineers with verified product data.
Jul 29, 20265min
0Two Robots, 352 Screws: LASER Schedules a Full-Scale Timber Slab
University of Stuttgart researchers coordinated two robots to assemble a 2.4-by-6-metre timber slab through 108 subroutines and 352 screws, while respecting collisions and adhesive time limits.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Atlassian Central tops out at 180 metres—and resets the hybrid timber record
Sydney’s 39-storey Atlassian Central reached full structural height on 22 July 2026. At more than 180 metres, the timber–steel–concrete tower tests whether prefabricated “habitats” can scale inside a global office landmark.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Zurich’s Pink CLT Railway Yard Was Assembled in Just Five Months
Remise Rosa turns an abandoned rail site into a 2,500-square-metre social destination using CNC-cut timber, bridges, terraces and an unapologetically pink finish.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Amsterdam’s The Ark Starts Building 125 Apartments With 3,264 m³ of Timber
Seven timber residential levels, exposed wood interiors and more than 3,200 cubic metres of CLT and glulam make The Ark a major urban housing test.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Norway’s SenseWood project wants drones to spot timber façade trouble early
Launched in January 2026, SenseWood combines hyperspectral imaging, microclimate models and digital twins to predict moisture, fungal and fire-protection degradation on timber façades.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Brunssum Builds Eight Storeys of Timber for 39 Social-Rental Homes
De Wilde Tuin uses a CLT core, timber frame and prefabricated façades to place affordable housing and a rain garden on a former petrol-station site.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Toronto Installs a 210-Kilogram Robot for Full-Scale Mass-Timber Fabrication
The University of Toronto’s first industrial-scale timber-fabrication robot combines a 3.5-metre reach, 210-kilogram payload and 0.06-millimetre repeatability.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Under Armour’s Baltimore headquarters turns mass timber into workplace infrastructure
A March 2026 supplier update provides a fresh look at the 280,000 ft² Baltimore campus, where visible CLT and glulam sit alongside geothermal wells, solar power and off-site coordination.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Solibri’s 2026 reset puts model checking before the expensive timber mistake
Solibri launched a new platform on 13 April 2026 with cloud-connected checking, point-cloud support and a browser-based WebChecker beta. Timber prefabrication gives those features unusually high stakes.
Jul 29, 20265min
0The Hague Signs Off on a 76-Metre Timber Government Tower
A 19-storey office for the Dutch education ministry and DUO will combine a timber structure, natural ventilation, prefabrication and a digital twin.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Tekla 2026 adds AI to structural BIM—please keep an engineer in the loop
Trimble’s March 2026 release adds AI-assisted fabrication drawings, natural-language modelling previews and cloud settings. The timber opportunity is real, provided automation never becomes anonymous.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Europe Backs Robot-Built Timber Housing with Digital Twins and AI
The EU-funded PTAH project will test robotic microfactories, digital twins and adaptive construction in a two-storey timber demonstrator.
Jul 28, 20262min
05G-TIMBER Connects AI, Digital Twins and Timber Factories
A European research programme has tested 5G networks, AI and digital twins across timber production and building assembly.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Can Timber Help Europe’s Housing Crisis? EU Projects Target the Skills Gap
Two EU LIFE projects are building the training, local supply chains and practical knowledge needed to use more wood in affordable and social housing.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Austria’s Ybbs Mill Passes One Million Cubic Metres of CLT
Stora Enso reports that its Ybbs mill has delivered one million cubic metres of cross-laminated timber, a major industrial milestone for European mass timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0The LIMBER Act Could Bring US Mass Timber a $5-per-Square-Foot Tax Credit
A 2026 bill in Congress proposes federal tax credits for mass-timber factories, workforce training and qualifying buildings—but it has not become law.
Jul 28, 20262min
0USDA Backs Timber Production with $115.2 Million Across Eight States
Federal loan guarantees announced in March 2026 will support sawmills and wood processors while linking rural manufacturing to forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Inside WOODWISE: Full-Scale Fire Tests Put Mass Timber to the Test
USDA researchers and partners are burning room-sized CLT compartments to measure fire behaviour, emissions and the effect of exposed versus encapsulated timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0California’s First DLT Producer Turns Underused Trees into Building Panels
Mad River Mass Timber is producing dowel-laminated timber in California, creating a potential market for underused local species without structural adhesives.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Theodore Roosevelt’s Mass Timber Library Opens in the Badlands
Snøhetta’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opens on 4 July 2026 with a mass-timber and steel structure, rammed earth walls and a planted roof.
Jul 28, 20262min
0EUDR Goes Live for Timber in 2026: What the New EU Rules Require
The EU Deforestation Regulation reaches its first application deadline on 30 December 2026, making traceability, geolocation and due diligence central issues for timber supply chains.
Jul 28, 20263min
0SITCA Launches a Global Science–Industry Alliance for Timber Construction
Launched in Vienna in July 2026, the Science and Timber Construction Alliance brings researchers and major companies together to study wood resources, carbon storage and the sustainable expansion of timber buildings.
Jul 28, 20263min
0PEFC Introduces Traceability Certification for Individual Construction Projects
PEFC ST 2102:2026 applies Chain of Custody principles at project level, allowing complex buildings to document certified timber across multiple suppliers, subcontractors and products.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Mass Timber Laboratory Meets Demanding Vibration-Control Requirements
Oregon State University’s 143,000-square-foot research complex uses mass plywood panels in floors engineered for sensitive equipment, extending mass timber into a building type normally associated with concrete.
Jul 28, 20263min
0TRÆ Pairs a Timber Tower with Reclaimed Aluminium and Wind-Turbine Blades
The 20-level, 78-metre TRÆ building in Aarhus combines a timber-led hybrid structure with reused façade materials and turbine-blade sunshades, offering a pragmatic model for circular high-rise construction.
Jul 28, 20263min
0California Links Mass Timber Growth to Forest and Wildfire Strategy
California’s first statewide Mass Timber Coalition connects building demand with forest health, wildfire-risk reduction, local CLT and glulam manufacturing, workforce development and regulatory reform.
Jul 28, 20263min
0US Bill Proposes Federal Incentives for Mass Timber Buildings
The Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act of 2026 would create contracting preferences for federal projects using innovative wood products. It could influence public, renovation and military construction, but remains a bill—not adopted law.
Jul 28, 20261min
0Australia Tests Light Timber Frame Buildings Up to 15 Metres
The Future Framing Initiative is developing the evidence and standards needed to extend light timber framing into 4–5-storey apartments, schools and aged-care buildings, with a target pathway into the 2028 National Construction Code.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Proposed Fire Rules Could Restrict Timber Buildings Above 11 Metres in England
England is consulting on changes to Approved Document B that would remove its standard guidance route for combustible structural elements above 11 metres. The proposal could reshape even modest mid-rise timber projects, but it is not a final ban.
Jun 8, 20267min
02026: The Year Timber Construction Becomes Mainstream — Yes, Really
Timber construction is no longer just for cabins, eco-retreats, and people who own too many chisels. In 2026, wood is moving into cities, policies, insurance reports, factories, and serious construction pipelines. Here’s why timber may finally be crossing from niche to normal.
Dec 16, 20258min
0Festool’s Hidden Gem: The Domino XL DF 700 for Timber Frame Bracing — Yes, Really
The Domino XL (DF 700) isn’t a replacement for traditional mortise-and-tenon—but it is a surprisingly useful “plan B” for temporary bracing, non-structural timber details, and repair work. Here’s where it shines, where it doesn’t, and how to use it without upsetting the timber gods.
Dec 12, 20256min
0Mallets, Adzes, and Marking Knives: The Quiet Power Tools You’re Underestimating
Power tools scream, but traditional hand tools whisper—and still deliver joinery accuracy down to fractions of a millimeter. Meet the mallet, adze, and marking knife: three timeless tools that shape timber with precision, control, and zero battery anxiety.
Dec 12, 20258min
0DeWalt, Makita, or Milwaukee? The 2025 Timber Framer’s Power Tool Trifecta — Decoded
Choosing between DeWalt, Makita, and Milwaukee in 2025 isn’t about brand loyalty—it’s about torque, battery ecosystems, durability, and how each tool performs in real timber framing conditions. Here’s the honest breakdown.
Dec 12, 20259min
0Makita’s Secret Weapon: Why Their 18V Ecosystem Is the Smart Choice for Startups (and Budget-Conscious Pros)
One battery, 200+ tools, zero chaos. Here’s why Makita’s 18V LXT ecosystem is the smartest path for startups, small workshops, and builders who want pro performance without breaking the bank.
Dec 11, 202510min
0Dust Ain’t Just Dirt—It’s a Liability: Why Your Dust Collection System Is Non-Negotiable (and What’s New in 2025)
Dust isn’t just mess—it’s a health hazard, a machine killer, and a hidden liability. Here’s why modern dust collection systems in 2025 are smarter, quieter, safer, and absolutely essential for timber framing workshops of any size.
Dec 11, 20257min
0The “One Battery Platform” Rule: Why Mixing Brands Is a Startup’s Biggest (and Costliest) Mistake
Starting a workshop with three tool brands, five chargers, and seven incompatible batteries sounds harmless—until your drill clicks dead on a jobsite. Here’s why choosing one battery ecosystem saves time, money, and sanity.
Dec 9, 20256min
1How I Started Building a House and Ended Up Building Software.
The story of how a gold-flake-water-drinking architect's useless napkin sketch drove a DIYer to build his own browser-based timber frame design software from scratch.
Dec 9, 20254min
0Timber Titans: 2025’s Wooden Buildings With Big Personalities
Meet the nurturing mom, the gym-bro tower, and the anxious eco-city starring in 2025’s mass-timber soap opera.
Dec 9, 20257min
0From Historic Restoration to Contemporary Vision: 5 Wooden Structures That Shape the Future
Five extraordinary wooden projects prove that timber can preserve history, protect ruins, empower communities, and build the future—without losing its soul. Sven and Olaf approve.
Dec 9, 202510min
0The Perfect Tool Kit for a Timberframe-Style Pergola (Imperial + Metric)
Build a real timberframe-style pergola in one weekend using modern tools and hardware. This complete imperial + metric tool list covers layout, cutting, assembly, and finishing—no fantasy tools, only what actually works on site.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Nov 8, 20255min
0Beyond the Barn: Global Timber Frame Trends 2025
Global timber frame trends for 2025—Japan to Scandinavia, curves, modern rustic, gardens, and biophilic design.
Oct 13, 20255min
2I Thought a Tape Measure Was Optional… Until My Shed Looked Like It Was Doing the Samba
A hilariously true tale of DIY timber framing gone wrong—and the tools that saved my shed (and my marriage).
Innovation
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wood-Fibre Panels vs Conventional Envelopes Across North American Climates
A new modelling study tests whether prefabricated wood-fibre insulated panels save energy from cold Canada to hot-humid regions.
Jul 30, 20265min
0The Hive Reaches Structural Completion: How a Timber Tower Recenters After an Earthquake
Vancouver’s ten-storey timber office uses perimeter glulam braces and self-centering connections to manage earthquake forces without a conventional concrete core.
Jul 30, 20264min
1Ireland Lays the Groundwork for a “Wood First” Policy in Public Projects
Ireland’s Timber in Construction Steering Group has delivered a seven-point roadmap covering regulation, procurement, carbon, skills and industry capacity. Its proposed “Wood First” approach would make timber the first material considered for public projects—not an automatic choice and not yet a nationwide mandate.
Jul 30, 20265min
0France Wants Timber on the Podium for the 2030 Winter Olympics
The France Bois 2030 mission is turning the French Alps Winter Games into a test of local timber supply, low-carbon procurement and long-term reuse. Launched in 2026, it aims to help project teams specify French wood without repeating avoidable mistakes from Paris 2024.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Bouygues and FCBA Renew a Three-Year Push to Scale Timber Construction
Bouygues Bâtiment France, Linkcity and FCBA have renewed their strategic partnership through 2029, targeting technical validation, regulation and the large-scale deployment of timber buildings.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Italy Tests a Hybrid Timber System for Taller, Earthquake-Resilient Buildings
The HyWood4Buildings research project combines solid-sawn timber walls with a steel–timber lateral system, aiming to use local wood more efficiently in taller and reusable structures.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Norway Leads €4.2 Million Push to Turn Reclaimed Timber into New Buildings
The SINTEF-led ReCLAiMiT project starts in September 2026 with a European research programme for assessing, dismantling and remanufacturing structural timber instead of burning or downcycling it.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Norway Opens €200,000 Call for Zero-Waste Timber Construction Ideas
The NIBIO-coordinated WoodStock project will fund four European teams with up to €50,000 each to test circular products and building systems that use underutilised wood.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Romania’s nZEB Expo Gives Timber Construction a 352-Square-Metre Platform
At nZEB Expo 2026 in Bucharest, the Wood Hub became the event’s dedicated Timber Partner. The expanded platform connected timber-frame manufacturers, engineered-wood specialists and energy-efficient construction audiences.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Bellway Opens Robotic Timber-Frame Factory Built to Supply 3,000 Homes a Year
Bellway Home Space has begun supplying timber-frame kits from a 135,000-square-foot factory in Nottinghamshire. The housebuilder plans to scale output to around 3,000 homes annually by 2030, bringing robotic off-site manufacturing into its mainstream delivery model.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Canada puts mass timber inside its 2026 forest-sector reset
A federal transformation task force, new manufacturing investments and a renewed housing-focused wood programme place mass timber and prefabrication inside Canada’s industrial strategy—not just its architecture pages.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Timber Design Software Attracts A$3 Million: Why Investors Backed SPEC Toolbox
Australia’s SPEC Toolbox raised A$3 million in January 2026 to expand a structural-design platform that began with mass timber and now connects engineers with verified product data.
Jul 29, 20265min
0Two Robots, 352 Screws: LASER Schedules a Full-Scale Timber Slab
University of Stuttgart researchers coordinated two robots to assemble a 2.4-by-6-metre timber slab through 108 subroutines and 352 screws, while respecting collisions and adhesive time limits.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Atlassian Central tops out at 180 metres—and resets the hybrid timber record
Sydney’s 39-storey Atlassian Central reached full structural height on 22 July 2026. At more than 180 metres, the timber–steel–concrete tower tests whether prefabricated “habitats” can scale inside a global office landmark.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Zurich’s Pink CLT Railway Yard Was Assembled in Just Five Months
Remise Rosa turns an abandoned rail site into a 2,500-square-metre social destination using CNC-cut timber, bridges, terraces and an unapologetically pink finish.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Finland’s Award-Winning Puusauna Lets Whole Trees Carry the Roof
Jaakko Torvinen’s island sauna combines hand-hewn logs, CLT, glulam and minimally processed tree trunks in a structural experiment with crooked wood.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Three Global Studies Redraw the Tall-Timber Map in 2026
New datasets covering 56, 79 and 258 buildings quantify material intensity, structural systems and recurring tower types—replacing isolated records with a broader global picture.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Norway’s SenseWood project wants drones to spot timber façade trouble early
Launched in January 2026, SenseWood combines hyperspectral imaging, microclimate models and digital twins to predict moisture, fungal and fire-protection degradation on timber façades.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Toronto Installs a 210-Kilogram Robot for Full-Scale Mass-Timber Fabrication
The University of Toronto’s first industrial-scale timber-fabrication robot combines a 3.5-metre reach, 210-kilogram payload and 0.06-millimetre repeatability.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Solibri’s 2026 reset puts model checking before the expensive timber mistake
Solibri launched a new platform on 13 April 2026 with cloud-connected checking, point-cloud support and a browser-based WebChecker beta. Timber prefabrication gives those features unusually high stakes.
Jul 29, 20265min
0The Hague Signs Off on a 76-Metre Timber Government Tower
A 19-storey office for the Dutch education ministry and DUO will combine a timber structure, natural ventilation, prefabrication and a digital twin.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Tekla 2026 adds AI to structural BIM—please keep an engineer in the loop
Trimble’s March 2026 release adds AI-assisted fabrication drawings, natural-language modelling previews and cloud settings. The timber opportunity is real, provided automation never becomes anonymous.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Europe Backs Robot-Built Timber Housing with Digital Twins and AI
The EU-funded PTAH project will test robotic microfactories, digital twins and adaptive construction in a two-storey timber demonstrator.
Jul 28, 20262min
05G-TIMBER Connects AI, Digital Twins and Timber Factories
A European research programme has tested 5G networks, AI and digital twins across timber production and building assembly.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Austria’s Ybbs Mill Passes One Million Cubic Metres of CLT
Stora Enso reports that its Ybbs mill has delivered one million cubic metres of cross-laminated timber, a major industrial milestone for European mass timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0The LIMBER Act Could Bring US Mass Timber a $5-per-Square-Foot Tax Credit
A 2026 bill in Congress proposes federal tax credits for mass-timber factories, workforce training and qualifying buildings—but it has not become law.
Jul 28, 20262min
0USDA Backs Timber Production with $115.2 Million Across Eight States
Federal loan guarantees announced in March 2026 will support sawmills and wood processors while linking rural manufacturing to forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Inside WOODWISE: Full-Scale Fire Tests Put Mass Timber to the Test
USDA researchers and partners are burning room-sized CLT compartments to measure fire behaviour, emissions and the effect of exposed versus encapsulated timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0California’s First DLT Producer Turns Underused Trees into Building Panels
Mad River Mass Timber is producing dowel-laminated timber in California, creating a potential market for underused local species without structural adhesives.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Theodore Roosevelt’s Mass Timber Library Opens in the Badlands
Snøhetta’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opens on 4 July 2026 with a mass-timber and steel structure, rammed earth walls and a planted roof.
Jul 28, 20262min
0EUDR Goes Live for Timber in 2026: What the New EU Rules Require
The EU Deforestation Regulation reaches its first application deadline on 30 December 2026, making traceability, geolocation and due diligence central issues for timber supply chains.
Jul 28, 20263min
0BuildSpec Brings Structure, Cost and Carbon into Concept Design
Mercer Mass Timber’s BuildSpec lets project teams test hybrid CLT and cold-formed-steel configurations early, producing preliminary quantities, costs and embodied-carbon estimates before detailed engineering.
Jul 28, 20263min
0SITCA Launches a Global Science–Industry Alliance for Timber Construction
Launched in Vienna in July 2026, the Science and Timber Construction Alliance brings researchers and major companies together to study wood resources, carbon storage and the sustainable expansion of timber buildings.
Jul 28, 20263min
0PEFC Introduces Traceability Certification for Individual Construction Projects
PEFC ST 2102:2026 applies Chain of Custody principles at project level, allowing complex buildings to document certified timber across multiple suppliers, subcontractors and products.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Mass Timber Laboratory Meets Demanding Vibration-Control Requirements
Oregon State University’s 143,000-square-foot research complex uses mass plywood panels in floors engineered for sensitive equipment, extending mass timber into a building type normally associated with concrete.
Jul 28, 20263min
0TRÆ Pairs a Timber Tower with Reclaimed Aluminium and Wind-Turbine Blades
The 20-level, 78-metre TRÆ building in Aarhus combines a timber-led hybrid structure with reused façade materials and turbine-blade sunshades, offering a pragmatic model for circular high-rise construction.
Jul 28, 20263min
0California Links Mass Timber Growth to Forest and Wildfire Strategy
California’s first statewide Mass Timber Coalition connects building demand with forest health, wildfire-risk reduction, local CLT and glulam manufacturing, workforce development and regulatory reform.
Jul 28, 20263min
0US Bill Proposes Federal Incentives for Mass Timber Buildings
The Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act of 2026 would create contracting preferences for federal projects using innovative wood products. It could influence public, renovation and military construction, but remains a bill—not adopted law.
Jul 28, 20261min
0Australia Tests Light Timber Frame Buildings Up to 15 Metres
The Future Framing Initiative is developing the evidence and standards needed to extend light timber framing into 4–5-storey apartments, schools and aged-care buildings, with a target pathway into the 2028 National Construction Code.
Jun 8, 202610min
0Why AI Still Struggles With Real Timber-Frame Design — And Why That Matters
AI can generate a beautiful timber house in seconds. But can it place the posts correctly, align the plates, respect structural logic, and produce something a builder can actually cut? That is where things get interesting.
Dec 14, 20258min
0Tool Tracking for Timber Teams: Why Bluetooth Tags Are the New “Where’s the Framing Square?” Fix
Timber framing crews lose up to 7% of weekly productivity searching for tools. Bluetooth trackers are the simplest, funniest, and most effective way to stop the disappearing-square epidemic forever.
Dec 12, 20259min
0Makita’s Secret Weapon: Why Their 18V Ecosystem Is the Smart Choice for Startups (and Budget-Conscious Pros)
One battery, 200+ tools, zero chaos. Here’s why Makita’s 18V LXT ecosystem is the smartest path for startups, small workshops, and builders who want pro performance without breaking the bank.
Dec 11, 202510min
0DeWalt’s 2025 Multi-Head Drill Driver: One Tool to Rule All the Tight Spaces (Yes, Even Inside a Mortise)
DeWalt’s new 2025 DCD799 Multi-Head Drill Driver is a shape-shifting compact tool built for tight spaces, awkward angles, and impossible timber-frame joints. With four interchangeable heads, surprising torque, and a tiny 5.3 in (135 mm) body, it’s quickly becoming the most versatile drill of the year.
Dec 11, 202510min
0Dust Ain’t Just Dirt—It’s a Liability: Why Your Dust Collection System Is Non-Negotiable (and What’s New in 2025)
Dust isn’t just mess—it’s a health hazard, a machine killer, and a hidden liability. Here’s why modern dust collection systems in 2025 are smarter, quieter, safer, and absolutely essential for timber framing workshops of any size.
Dec 11, 20256min
0WMS 2025 Recap: The 5 Most Exciting Timber Frame Innovations (and 1 That Made Us Say “Wait, What?”)
A fast, funny, builder-grade recap of the best (and strangest) timber framing innovations revealed at WMS 2025—from contactless blade safety to on-bed CNC labeling and modular beam saws that scale with your shop.
Dec 10, 20256min
0Wood vs. Steel: The Exact Calculation of Embodied Carbon Reduction in Mass Timber Structures
A data-driven breakdown of how much carbon mass timber truly saves compared to steel and concrete, backed by real LCAs from award-winning buildings.
Dec 9, 20254min
0Timber Titans: 2025’s Wooden Buildings With Big Personalities
Meet the nurturing mom, the gym-bro tower, and the anxious eco-city starring in 2025’s mass-timber soap opera.
Dec 9, 20258min
0Top 10 Timber Projects by Think Wood: What the Most Awarded Wooden Buildings of 2024 Teach Us About Excellence
From NBA training centers to university labs and iconic arenas, Think Wood’s Top 10 Timber Projects of 2024 reveal how mass timber has become the gold standard for sustainable, high-performance architecture.
Dec 9, 20259min
0From Rustic Cabin to Massive Stadium: The Spectacular Evolution of Timber Structures
Once used for small cabins and barns, timber now supports massive stadiums, skyscrapers, and research centers. This is the story of how wood became one of the most advanced structural materials on Earth.
Dec 9, 20259min
0Expo Osaka 2025: How Sou Fujimoto Built the World’s Largest Wooden Structure
At Expo Osaka 2025, architect Sou Fujimoto unveiled the Grand Ring — a record-breaking 60-meter tall circular timber megastructure. Here’s how ancient Japanese joinery, digital design and mass timber engineering made it possible.
Dec 9, 202510min
0Biophilia in Buildings: How Timber Structures Boost Wellbeing and Productivity
Modern timber buildings don’t just look good—they actively improve how we feel and perform. Discover the science behind biophilia, why real wood changes the brain, and how timber design boosts wellbeing, focus, and recovery.
Dec 9, 20257min
0From Historic Restoration to Contemporary Vision: 5 Wooden Structures That Shape the Future
Five extraordinary wooden projects prove that timber can preserve history, protect ruins, empower communities, and build the future—without losing its soul. Sven and Olaf approve.
Nov 29, 20253min
0Curved Beams & Organic Shapes – The Timberframe Revolution
Curved beams, fluid shapes, and organic timberframe design taking over 2025 architecture.
Timber Frame
Jul 30, 20263min
1The Big Viking Wood Puzzle
How Vikings invented timber framing—with no nails, just stubbornness, mead, and the mighty mortise-and-tenon.
Jul 30, 20264min
1Ireland Lays the Groundwork for a “Wood First” Policy in Public Projects
Ireland’s Timber in Construction Steering Group has delivered a seven-point roadmap covering regulation, procurement, carbon, skills and industry capacity. Its proposed “Wood First” approach would make timber the first material considered for public projects—not an automatic choice and not yet a nationwide mandate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Jul 30, 20269min
0The Hollow-Chisel Mortiser: Your New Best Friend for 100 Perfect Mortises (Before Lunch)
The hollow-chisel mortiser is the ultimate time-saving, precision-boosting tool for timber framers. Here’s why it beats hand-chopping in speed, accuracy, and sanity—featuring Sven & Olaf’s legendary woodworking wisdom.
Jul 30, 20263min
0France Publishes a New Test Route for Timber-Frame Façades
FCBA’s 2026 guidance gives manufacturers and project teams a clearer way to verify how external cladding behaves on timber-frame façades under deformation and wind-driven rain.
Jul 30, 20265min
0France Wants Timber on the Podium for the 2030 Winter Olympics
The France Bois 2030 mission is turning the French Alps Winter Games into a test of local timber supply, low-carbon procurement and long-term reuse. Launched in 2026, it aims to help project teams specify French wood without repeating avoidable mistakes from Paris 2024.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Bouygues and FCBA Renew a Three-Year Push to Scale Timber Construction
Bouygues Bâtiment France, Linkcity and FCBA have renewed their strategic partnership through 2029, targeting technical validation, regulation and the large-scale deployment of timber buildings.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Romania’s Timber Industry Calls for 25% Wood in Every New Public Building
ASFOR is asking Romania to require wood products to represent at least 25% of the value of each new public building. The 2026 proposal could reshape procurement, but it is an industry position—not an adopted law.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Predazzo’s Olympic Village Builds Its Legacy in Timber
The 2026 Winter Games village in Predazzo combines new timber and steel accommodation with renovated historic buildings, then returns the permanent campus to the Guardia di Finanza after the athletes leave.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Romania’s nZEB Expo Gives Timber Construction a 352-Square-Metre Platform
At nZEB Expo 2026 in Bucharest, the Wood Hub became the event’s dedicated Timber Partner. The expanded platform connected timber-frame manufacturers, engineered-wood specialists and energy-efficient construction audiences.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Britain Imports Most of Its Timber—Could Homegrown C16 Change the Specification?
The Forestry Commission says roughly 75–80% of the timber consumed in the UK is imported. New 2026 guidance argues that homegrown C16 timber is suitable for many structural applications if it is specified early.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Bellway Opens Robotic Timber-Frame Factory Built to Supply 3,000 Homes a Year
Bellway Home Space has begun supplying timber-frame kits from a 135,000-square-foot factory in Nottinghamshire. The housebuilder plans to scale output to around 3,000 homes annually by 2030, bringing robotic off-site manufacturing into its mainstream delivery model.
Jul 29, 20263min
0England’s Future Homes Standard Is Here: Why Timber Frame Could Gain from a Fabric-First Race
England published the Future Homes and Buildings Standards in March 2026. Heat pumps, solar generation and tighter performance rules put envelope quality and repeatable off-site construction under pressure.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Canada puts mass timber inside its 2026 forest-sector reset
A federal transformation task force, new manufacturing investments and a renewed housing-focused wood programme place mass timber and prefabrication inside Canada’s industrial strategy—not just its architecture pages.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Timber Design Software Attracts A$3 Million: Why Investors Backed SPEC Toolbox
Australia’s SPEC Toolbox raised A$3 million in January 2026 to expand a structural-design platform that began with mass timber and now connects engineers with verified product data.
Jul 29, 20265min
0Two Robots, 352 Screws: LASER Schedules a Full-Scale Timber Slab
University of Stuttgart researchers coordinated two robots to assemble a 2.4-by-6-metre timber slab through 108 subroutines and 352 screws, while respecting collisions and adhesive time limits.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Finland’s Award-Winning Puusauna Lets Whole Trees Carry the Roof
Jaakko Torvinen’s island sauna combines hand-hewn logs, CLT, glulam and minimally processed tree trunks in a structural experiment with crooked wood.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Three Global Studies Redraw the Tall-Timber Map in 2026
New datasets covering 56, 79 and 258 buildings quantify material intensity, structural systems and recurring tower types—replacing isolated records with a broader global picture.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Toronto Installs a 210-Kilogram Robot for Full-Scale Mass-Timber Fabrication
The University of Toronto’s first industrial-scale timber-fabrication robot combines a 3.5-metre reach, 210-kilogram payload and 0.06-millimetre repeatability.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Tekla 2026 adds AI to structural BIM—please keep an engineer in the loop
Trimble’s March 2026 release adds AI-assisted fabrication drawings, natural-language modelling previews and cloud settings. The timber opportunity is real, provided automation never becomes anonymous.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Europe Backs Robot-Built Timber Housing with Digital Twins and AI
The EU-funded PTAH project will test robotic microfactories, digital twins and adaptive construction in a two-storey timber demonstrator.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Can Timber Help Europe’s Housing Crisis? EU Projects Target the Skills Gap
Two EU LIFE projects are building the training, local supply chains and practical knowledge needed to use more wood in affordable and social housing.
Jul 28, 20261min
0Australia Tests Light Timber Frame Buildings Up to 15 Metres
The Future Framing Initiative is developing the evidence and standards needed to extend light timber framing into 4–5-storey apartments, schools and aged-care buildings, with a target pathway into the 2028 National Construction Code.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Proposed Fire Rules Could Restrict Timber Buildings Above 11 Metres in England
England is consulting on changes to Approved Document B that would remove its standard guidance route for combustible structural elements above 11 metres. The proposal could reshape even modest mid-rise timber projects, but it is not a final ban.
Jun 8, 202610min
0Why AI Still Struggles With Real Timber-Frame Design — And Why That Matters
AI can generate a beautiful timber house in seconds. But can it place the posts correctly, align the plates, respect structural logic, and produce something a builder can actually cut? That is where things get interesting.
Jun 8, 20267min
02026: The Year Timber Construction Becomes Mainstream — Yes, Really
Timber construction is no longer just for cabins, eco-retreats, and people who own too many chisels. In 2026, wood is moving into cities, policies, insurance reports, factories, and serious construction pipelines. Here’s why timber may finally be crossing from niche to normal.
Dec 14, 20258min
0Tool Tracking for Timber Teams: Why Bluetooth Tags Are the New “Where’s the Framing Square?” Fix
Timber framing crews lose up to 7% of weekly productivity searching for tools. Bluetooth trackers are the simplest, funniest, and most effective way to stop the disappearing-square epidemic forever.
Dec 14, 20256min
0Chisels, Slicks, and Squares: Your First 5 Hand Tools for Timber Framing (and Why Your Grandpa Was Right)
Your first five hand tools for timber framing—framing square, chisels, slick, marking knife, and wooden mallet—are more than nostalgia. They’re precision instruments that still outperform power tools when joinery really matters.
Dec 14, 20258min
0Barr vs. Narex: The Ultimate Timber Frame Chisel Showdown (Tested on Real White Oak)
We put two legends of timber framing—Barr Tools and Narex—to a real workshop test: white oak, end grain, identical mortises. One costs €145, the other €32. Here’s what actually matters.
Dec 12, 20256min
0Mallets, Adzes, and Marking Knives: The Quiet Power Tools You’re Underestimating
Power tools scream, but traditional hand tools whisper—and still deliver joinery accuracy down to fractions of a millimeter. Meet the mallet, adze, and marking knife: three timeless tools that shape timber with precision, control, and zero battery anxiety.
Dec 12, 20257min
0Milwaukee’s ‘Brute Force’ vs. DeWalt’s ‘Atomic Speed’: Which Philosophy Fits Your Timber Framing Style?
Milwaukee brings brute-force torque. DeWalt brings hyper-efficient speed. We tested both on real timber framing tasks—white oak (6×8 in / 150×200 mm), structural lag screws, wet weather, and long battery cycles—to see which tool matches your building style.
Dec 11, 202510min
0DeWalt’s 2025 Multi-Head Drill Driver: One Tool to Rule All the Tight Spaces (Yes, Even Inside a Mortise)
DeWalt’s new 2025 DCD799 Multi-Head Drill Driver is a shape-shifting compact tool built for tight spaces, awkward angles, and impossible timber-frame joints. With four interchangeable heads, surprising torque, and a tiny 5.3 in (135 mm) body, it’s quickly becoming the most versatile drill of the year.
Dec 11, 20256min
0WMS 2025 Recap: The 5 Most Exciting Timber Frame Innovations (and 1 That Made Us Say “Wait, What?”)
A fast, funny, builder-grade recap of the best (and strangest) timber framing innovations revealed at WMS 2025—from contactless blade safety to on-bed CNC labeling and modular beam saws that scale with your shop.
Dec 11, 20256min
0Festool vs. Makita Sander Showdown: Is $400 Worth Zero Vibration & Perfect Dust Capture?
A clear, real-world comparison between the Festool ETS 150/3 EQ and the Makita BO5041K. We test vibration, dust collection, finish quality, ergonomics, and long-term value to reveal when paying extra truly makes sense.
Dec 9, 20258min
0From Thatch to Tile Backer Panels: How to Protect Timber Structures for the Long Haul
Behind every long-lasting timber structure lies an invisible defense system against moisture, UV, insects, and decay. From ancient thatch to modern backer panels, this is the science of durability.
Dec 9, 20256min
1How I Started Building a House and Ended Up Building Software.
The story of how a gold-flake-water-drinking architect's useless napkin sketch drove a DIYer to build his own browser-based timber frame design software from scratch.
Dec 9, 20258min
0Top 10 Timber Projects by Think Wood: What the Most Awarded Wooden Buildings of 2024 Teach Us About Excellence
From NBA training centers to university labs and iconic arenas, Think Wood’s Top 10 Timber Projects of 2024 reveal how mass timber has become the gold standard for sustainable, high-performance architecture.
Dec 9, 20259min
0From Rustic Cabin to Massive Stadium: The Spectacular Evolution of Timber Structures
Once used for small cabins and barns, timber now supports massive stadiums, skyscrapers, and research centers. This is the story of how wood became one of the most advanced structural materials on Earth.
Dec 9, 202510min
0Start a Timber Frame Business Under $50,000
Learn how to launch a small timber frame shop on a lean budget: tools, workspace, pricing, marketing and a first-year roadmap without going broke.
Dec 9, 20257min
0Timber Homes That Belong: How to Build Like a Local
Tired of fake chalets and cosplay cabins? Discover how modern timber homes can actually belong to their landscape instead of looking like confused tourists.
Nov 29, 20255min
0Traditional Joinery & Japanese/Scandinavian Influence – The Craft That Gives Soul to a Timberframe
Japanese precision, Scandinavian simplicity, and traditional craftsmanship — the magic inside every soulful timberframe structure.
Nov 29, 20253min
0Curved Beams & Organic Shapes – The Timberframe Revolution
Curved beams, fluid shapes, and organic timberframe design taking over 2025 architecture.
Nov 28, 20255min
0When Our Ancestors Started Notching Logs: The Story of a 476,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure
Archaeologists discovered a notched wooden structure dated to 476,000 years ago — proving early hominins built the earliest known timber framing long before Homo sapiens existed.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Nov 12, 20256min
0Dark Timber & Open Living: 2025’s Hottest Timber Frame Design Trends for Modern Homes
Dark beams, open layouts, and smart details redefining modern timber frame living in 2025.
Nov 8, 20255min
0Beyond the Barn: Global Timber Frame Trends 2025
Global timber frame trends for 2025—Japan to Scandinavia, curves, modern rustic, gardens, and biophilic design.
Oct 13, 20255min
2I Thought a Tape Measure Was Optional… Until My Shed Looked Like It Was Doing the Samba
A hilariously true tale of DIY timber framing gone wrong—and the tools that saved my shed (and my marriage).
Sustainability
Jul 30, 20264min
0Mass Timber vs Conventional Civic Construction: What 500 County Center Actually Saved
A California civic office earned LEED Platinum in May 2026. Its timber comparison is strongest when schedule, embodied carbon and operational energy stay separate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wooden Dowels vs Metal Fasteners: A Beginner’s Guide to Timber-Only Connections
May 2026 tests compare wooden-dowel capacity with design models and show where timber-only connections offer circular potential.
Jul 30, 20264min
1Ireland Lays the Groundwork for a “Wood First” Policy in Public Projects
Ireland’s Timber in Construction Steering Group has delivered a seven-point roadmap covering regulation, procurement, carbon, skills and industry capacity. Its proposed “Wood First” approach would make timber the first material considered for public projects—not an automatic choice and not yet a nationwide mandate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Jul 30, 20265min
0France Wants Timber on the Podium for the 2030 Winter Olympics
The France Bois 2030 mission is turning the French Alps Winter Games into a test of local timber supply, low-carbon procurement and long-term reuse. Launched in 2026, it aims to help project teams specify French wood without repeating avoidable mistakes from Paris 2024.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Norway Leads €4.2 Million Push to Turn Reclaimed Timber into New Buildings
The SINTEF-led ReCLAiMiT project starts in September 2026 with a European research programme for assessing, dismantling and remanufacturing structural timber instead of burning or downcycling it.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Norway Opens €200,000 Call for Zero-Waste Timber Construction Ideas
The NIBIO-coordinated WoodStock project will fund four European teams with up to €50,000 each to test circular products and building systems that use underutilised wood.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Oslo Adds Two Timber Storeys to a 150-Year-Old Building
Øvre Vollgate 11 combines a protected masonry structure with new glulam trusses and mass-timber floors, showing how lightweight prefabrication can unlock urban extensions.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Romania’s Timber Industry Calls for 25% Wood in Every New Public Building
ASFOR is asking Romania to require wood products to represent at least 25% of the value of each new public building. The 2026 proposal could reshape procurement, but it is an industry position—not an adopted law.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Predazzo’s Olympic Village Builds Its Legacy in Timber
The 2026 Winter Games village in Predazzo combines new timber and steel accommodation with renovated historic buildings, then returns the permanent campus to the Guardia di Finanza after the athletes leave.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Romania’s nZEB Expo Gives Timber Construction a 352-Square-Metre Platform
At nZEB Expo 2026 in Bucharest, the Wood Hub became the event’s dedicated Timber Partner. The expanded platform connected timber-frame manufacturers, engineered-wood specialists and energy-efficient construction audiences.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Munich’s 27,500 m² Sun Office Moves Ahead as a Timber Hybrid
Glulam, CLT and timber-concrete ribbed slabs form the structural system of Sun, a large Munich workplace designed around renewable energy and flexible floorplates.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Britain Imports Most of Its Timber—Could Homegrown C16 Change the Specification?
The Forestry Commission says roughly 75–80% of the timber consumed in the UK is imported. New 2026 guidance argues that homegrown C16 timber is suitable for many structural applications if it is specified early.
Jul 30, 20263min
0London’s 4 Arbour Street Opens with a Hybrid CLT and Low-Carbon Concrete Structure
The first office building at Brent Cross Town is now open. Its structure combines cross-laminated timber slabs with precast concrete beams and columns, offering a practical case study in hybrid material design.
Jul 29, 20263min
0England’s Future Homes Standard Is Here: Why Timber Frame Could Gain from a Fabric-First Race
England published the Future Homes and Buildings Standards in March 2026. Heat pumps, solar generation and tighter performance rules put envelope quality and repeatable off-site construction under pressure.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Canada puts mass timber inside its 2026 forest-sector reset
A federal transformation task force, new manufacturing investments and a renewed housing-focused wood programme place mass timber and prefabrication inside Canada’s industrial strategy—not just its architecture pages.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Amsterdam’s The Ark Starts Building 125 Apartments With 3,264 m³ of Timber
Seven timber residential levels, exposed wood interiors and more than 3,200 cubic metres of CLT and glulam make The Ark a major urban housing test.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Three Global Studies Redraw the Tall-Timber Map in 2026
New datasets covering 56, 79 and 258 buildings quantify material intensity, structural systems and recurring tower types—replacing isolated records with a broader global picture.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Norway’s SenseWood project wants drones to spot timber façade trouble early
Launched in January 2026, SenseWood combines hyperspectral imaging, microclimate models and digital twins to predict moisture, fungal and fire-protection degradation on timber façades.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Brunssum Builds Eight Storeys of Timber for 39 Social-Rental Homes
De Wilde Tuin uses a CLT core, timber frame and prefabricated façades to place affordable housing and a rain garden on a former petrol-station site.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Under Armour’s Baltimore headquarters turns mass timber into workplace infrastructure
A March 2026 supplier update provides a fresh look at the 280,000 ft² Baltimore campus, where visible CLT and glulam sit alongside geothermal wells, solar power and off-site coordination.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Can Timber Help Europe’s Housing Crisis? EU Projects Target the Skills Gap
Two EU LIFE projects are building the training, local supply chains and practical knowledge needed to use more wood in affordable and social housing.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Austria’s Ybbs Mill Passes One Million Cubic Metres of CLT
Stora Enso reports that its Ybbs mill has delivered one million cubic metres of cross-laminated timber, a major industrial milestone for European mass timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0USDA Backs Timber Production with $115.2 Million Across Eight States
Federal loan guarantees announced in March 2026 will support sawmills and wood processors while linking rural manufacturing to forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction.
Jul 28, 20262min
0California’s First DLT Producer Turns Underused Trees into Building Panels
Mad River Mass Timber is producing dowel-laminated timber in California, creating a potential market for underused local species without structural adhesives.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Theodore Roosevelt’s Mass Timber Library Opens in the Badlands
Snøhetta’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opens on 4 July 2026 with a mass-timber and steel structure, rammed earth walls and a planted roof.
Jul 28, 20262min
0EUDR Goes Live for Timber in 2026: What the New EU Rules Require
The EU Deforestation Regulation reaches its first application deadline on 30 December 2026, making traceability, geolocation and due diligence central issues for timber supply chains.
Jul 28, 20263min
0BuildSpec Brings Structure, Cost and Carbon into Concept Design
Mercer Mass Timber’s BuildSpec lets project teams test hybrid CLT and cold-formed-steel configurations early, producing preliminary quantities, costs and embodied-carbon estimates before detailed engineering.
Jul 28, 20263min
0SITCA Launches a Global Science–Industry Alliance for Timber Construction
Launched in Vienna in July 2026, the Science and Timber Construction Alliance brings researchers and major companies together to study wood resources, carbon storage and the sustainable expansion of timber buildings.
Jul 28, 20263min
0PEFC Introduces Traceability Certification for Individual Construction Projects
PEFC ST 2102:2026 applies Chain of Custody principles at project level, allowing complex buildings to document certified timber across multiple suppliers, subcontractors and products.
Jul 28, 20263min
0TRÆ Pairs a Timber Tower with Reclaimed Aluminium and Wind-Turbine Blades
The 20-level, 78-metre TRÆ building in Aarhus combines a timber-led hybrid structure with reused façade materials and turbine-blade sunshades, offering a pragmatic model for circular high-rise construction.
Jul 28, 20263min
0California Links Mass Timber Growth to Forest and Wildfire Strategy
California’s first statewide Mass Timber Coalition connects building demand with forest health, wildfire-risk reduction, local CLT and glulam manufacturing, workforce development and regulatory reform.
Jul 28, 20263min
0US Bill Proposes Federal Incentives for Mass Timber Buildings
The Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act of 2026 would create contracting preferences for federal projects using innovative wood products. It could influence public, renovation and military construction, but remains a bill—not adopted law.
Dec 10, 20256min
0Wood vs. Steel: The Exact Calculation of Embodied Carbon Reduction in Mass Timber Structures
A data-driven breakdown of how much carbon mass timber truly saves compared to steel and concrete, backed by real LCAs from award-winning buildings.
Dec 9, 20254min
0Timber Titans: 2025’s Wooden Buildings With Big Personalities
Meet the nurturing mom, the gym-bro tower, and the anxious eco-city starring in 2025’s mass-timber soap opera.
Dec 9, 202510min
0Biophilia in Buildings: How Timber Structures Boost Wellbeing and Productivity
Modern timber buildings don’t just look good—they actively improve how we feel and perform. Discover the science behind biophilia, why real wood changes the brain, and how timber design boosts wellbeing, focus, and recovery.
Dec 9, 20257min
0From Historic Restoration to Contemporary Vision: 5 Wooden Structures That Shape the Future
Five extraordinary wooden projects prove that timber can preserve history, protect ruins, empower communities, and build the future—without losing its soul. Sven and Olaf approve.
Nov 29, 20255min
0Traditional Joinery & Japanese/Scandinavian Influence – The Craft That Gives Soul to a Timberframe
Japanese precision, Scandinavian simplicity, and traditional craftsmanship — the magic inside every soulful timberframe structure.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Design
Jul 30, 20265min
0Does CLT Always Sound Hollow? What New Listening Tests Found
A 2026 listening study turns simulated footsteps and jumps into design evidence for quieter cross-laminated timber floors.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Italy Tests a Hybrid Timber System for Taller, Earthquake-Resilient Buildings
The HyWood4Buildings research project combines solid-sawn timber walls with a steel–timber lateral system, aiming to use local wood more efficiently in taller and reusable structures.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Oslo Adds Two Timber Storeys to a 150-Year-Old Building
Øvre Vollgate 11 combines a protected masonry structure with new glulam trusses and mass-timber floors, showing how lightweight prefabrication can unlock urban extensions.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Munich’s 27,500 m² Sun Office Moves Ahead as a Timber Hybrid
Glulam, CLT and timber-concrete ribbed slabs form the structural system of Sun, a large Munich workplace designed around renewable energy and flexible floorplates.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Shakespeare Gets a Curved Mass-Timber Stage in New York’s Hudson Valley
The 451-seat Scripps Theater Center opens beneath a bird-wing-inspired timber grid shell designed to frame both performance and landscape.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Romania Already Has Rules for CLT Buildings—What Designers Need to Know in 2026
Romania’s timber design regulation includes specific provisions for cross-laminated timber walls, openings and product documentation. The challenge in 2026 is turning those clauses into coordinated, verifiable project workflows.
Jul 30, 20263min
0London’s 4 Arbour Street Opens with a Hybrid CLT and Low-Carbon Concrete Structure
The first office building at Brent Cross Town is now open. Its structure combines cross-laminated timber slabs with precast concrete beams and columns, offering a practical case study in hybrid material design.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Zurich’s Pink CLT Railway Yard Was Assembled in Just Five Months
Remise Rosa turns an abandoned rail site into a 2,500-square-metre social destination using CNC-cut timber, bridges, terraces and an unapologetically pink finish.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Finland’s Award-Winning Puusauna Lets Whole Trees Carry the Roof
Jaakko Torvinen’s island sauna combines hand-hewn logs, CLT, glulam and minimally processed tree trunks in a structural experiment with crooked wood.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Amsterdam’s The Ark Starts Building 125 Apartments With 3,264 m³ of Timber
Seven timber residential levels, exposed wood interiors and more than 3,200 cubic metres of CLT and glulam make The Ark a major urban housing test.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Under Armour’s Baltimore headquarters turns mass timber into workplace infrastructure
A March 2026 supplier update provides a fresh look at the 280,000 ft² Baltimore campus, where visible CLT and glulam sit alongside geothermal wells, solar power and off-site coordination.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Europe Backs Robot-Built Timber Housing with Digital Twins and AI
The EU-funded PTAH project will test robotic microfactories, digital twins and adaptive construction in a two-storey timber demonstrator.
Jul 28, 20262min
05G-TIMBER Connects AI, Digital Twins and Timber Factories
A European research programme has tested 5G networks, AI and digital twins across timber production and building assembly.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Can Timber Help Europe’s Housing Crisis? EU Projects Target the Skills Gap
Two EU LIFE projects are building the training, local supply chains and practical knowledge needed to use more wood in affordable and social housing.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Theodore Roosevelt’s Mass Timber Library Opens in the Badlands
Snøhetta’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opens on 4 July 2026 with a mass-timber and steel structure, rammed earth walls and a planted roof.
Jul 28, 20263min
0BuildSpec Brings Structure, Cost and Carbon into Concept Design
Mercer Mass Timber’s BuildSpec lets project teams test hybrid CLT and cold-formed-steel configurations early, producing preliminary quantities, costs and embodied-carbon estimates before detailed engineering.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Mass Timber Laboratory Meets Demanding Vibration-Control Requirements
Oregon State University’s 143,000-square-foot research complex uses mass plywood panels in floors engineered for sensitive equipment, extending mass timber into a building type normally associated with concrete.
Jul 28, 20263min
0TRÆ Pairs a Timber Tower with Reclaimed Aluminium and Wind-Turbine Blades
The 20-level, 78-metre TRÆ building in Aarhus combines a timber-led hybrid structure with reused façade materials and turbine-blade sunshades, offering a pragmatic model for circular high-rise construction.
Jul 28, 20261min
0Australia Tests Light Timber Frame Buildings Up to 15 Metres
The Future Framing Initiative is developing the evidence and standards needed to extend light timber framing into 4–5-storey apartments, schools and aged-care buildings, with a target pathway into the 2028 National Construction Code.
Jun 8, 20267min
02026: The Year Timber Construction Becomes Mainstream — Yes, Really
Timber construction is no longer just for cabins, eco-retreats, and people who own too many chisels. In 2026, wood is moving into cities, policies, insurance reports, factories, and serious construction pipelines. Here’s why timber may finally be crossing from niche to normal.
Dec 9, 20256min
1How I Started Building a House and Ended Up Building Software.
The story of how a gold-flake-water-drinking architect's useless napkin sketch drove a DIYer to build his own browser-based timber frame design software from scratch.
Dec 9, 20259min
0Expo Osaka 2025: How Sou Fujimoto Built the World’s Largest Wooden Structure
At Expo Osaka 2025, architect Sou Fujimoto unveiled the Grand Ring — a record-breaking 60-meter tall circular timber megastructure. Here’s how ancient Japanese joinery, digital design and mass timber engineering made it possible.
Dec 9, 20257min
0From Historic Restoration to Contemporary Vision: 5 Wooden Structures That Shape the Future
Five extraordinary wooden projects prove that timber can preserve history, protect ruins, empower communities, and build the future—without losing its soul. Sven and Olaf approve.
Nov 29, 20255min
0Traditional Joinery & Japanese/Scandinavian Influence – The Craft That Gives Soul to a Timberframe
Japanese precision, Scandinavian simplicity, and traditional craftsmanship — the magic inside every soulful timberframe structure.
Nov 29, 20253min
0Curved Beams & Organic Shapes – The Timberframe Revolution
Curved beams, fluid shapes, and organic timberframe design taking over 2025 architecture.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Nov 12, 20256min
0Dark Timber & Open Living: 2025’s Hottest Timber Frame Design Trends for Modern Homes
Dark beams, open layouts, and smart details redefining modern timber frame living in 2025.
Nov 8, 20255min
0Beyond the Barn: Global Timber Frame Trends 2025
Global timber frame trends for 2025—Japan to Scandinavia, curves, modern rustic, gardens, and biophilic design.
Advanced
Jul 30, 20265min
0The Hive Reaches Structural Completion: How a Timber Tower Recenters After an Earthquake
Vancouver’s ten-storey timber office uses perimeter glulam braces and self-centering connections to manage earthquake forces without a conventional concrete core.
Jul 30, 20263min
0France Publishes a New Test Route for Timber-Frame Façades
FCBA’s 2026 guidance gives manufacturers and project teams a clearer way to verify how external cladding behaves on timber-frame façades under deformation and wind-driven rain.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Bouygues and FCBA Renew a Three-Year Push to Scale Timber Construction
Bouygues Bâtiment France, Linkcity and FCBA have renewed their strategic partnership through 2029, targeting technical validation, regulation and the large-scale deployment of timber buildings.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Italy Tests a Hybrid Timber System for Taller, Earthquake-Resilient Buildings
The HyWood4Buildings research project combines solid-sawn timber walls with a steel–timber lateral system, aiming to use local wood more efficiently in taller and reusable structures.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Norway Leads €4.2 Million Push to Turn Reclaimed Timber into New Buildings
The SINTEF-led ReCLAiMiT project starts in September 2026 with a European research programme for assessing, dismantling and remanufacturing structural timber instead of burning or downcycling it.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Munich’s 27,500 m² Sun Office Moves Ahead as a Timber Hybrid
Glulam, CLT and timber-concrete ribbed slabs form the structural system of Sun, a large Munich workplace designed around renewable energy and flexible floorplates.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Shakespeare Gets a Curved Mass-Timber Stage in New York’s Hudson Valley
The 451-seat Scripps Theater Center opens beneath a bird-wing-inspired timber grid shell designed to frame both performance and landscape.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Romania Already Has Rules for CLT Buildings—What Designers Need to Know in 2026
Romania’s timber design regulation includes specific provisions for cross-laminated timber walls, openings and product documentation. The challenge in 2026 is turning those clauses into coordinated, verifiable project workflows.
Jul 30, 20263min
0London’s 4 Arbour Street Opens with a Hybrid CLT and Low-Carbon Concrete Structure
The first office building at Brent Cross Town is now open. Its structure combines cross-laminated timber slabs with precast concrete beams and columns, offering a practical case study in hybrid material design.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Bellway Opens Robotic Timber-Frame Factory Built to Supply 3,000 Homes a Year
Bellway Home Space has begun supplying timber-frame kits from a 135,000-square-foot factory in Nottinghamshire. The housebuilder plans to scale output to around 3,000 homes annually by 2030, bringing robotic off-site manufacturing into its mainstream delivery model.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Timber Design Software Attracts A$3 Million: Why Investors Backed SPEC Toolbox
Australia’s SPEC Toolbox raised A$3 million in January 2026 to expand a structural-design platform that began with mass timber and now connects engineers with verified product data.
Jul 29, 20265min
0Two Robots, 352 Screws: LASER Schedules a Full-Scale Timber Slab
University of Stuttgart researchers coordinated two robots to assemble a 2.4-by-6-metre timber slab through 108 subroutines and 352 screws, while respecting collisions and adhesive time limits.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Atlassian Central tops out at 180 metres—and resets the hybrid timber record
Sydney’s 39-storey Atlassian Central reached full structural height on 22 July 2026. At more than 180 metres, the timber–steel–concrete tower tests whether prefabricated “habitats” can scale inside a global office landmark.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Three Global Studies Redraw the Tall-Timber Map in 2026
New datasets covering 56, 79 and 258 buildings quantify material intensity, structural systems and recurring tower types—replacing isolated records with a broader global picture.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Norway’s SenseWood project wants drones to spot timber façade trouble early
Launched in January 2026, SenseWood combines hyperspectral imaging, microclimate models and digital twins to predict moisture, fungal and fire-protection degradation on timber façades.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Toronto Installs a 210-Kilogram Robot for Full-Scale Mass-Timber Fabrication
The University of Toronto’s first industrial-scale timber-fabrication robot combines a 3.5-metre reach, 210-kilogram payload and 0.06-millimetre repeatability.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Solibri’s 2026 reset puts model checking before the expensive timber mistake
Solibri launched a new platform on 13 April 2026 with cloud-connected checking, point-cloud support and a browser-based WebChecker beta. Timber prefabrication gives those features unusually high stakes.
Jul 29, 20265min
0The Hague Signs Off on a 76-Metre Timber Government Tower
A 19-storey office for the Dutch education ministry and DUO will combine a timber structure, natural ventilation, prefabrication and a digital twin.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Tekla 2026 adds AI to structural BIM—please keep an engineer in the loop
Trimble’s March 2026 release adds AI-assisted fabrication drawings, natural-language modelling previews and cloud settings. The timber opportunity is real, provided automation never becomes anonymous.
Jul 28, 20262min
05G-TIMBER Connects AI, Digital Twins and Timber Factories
A European research programme has tested 5G networks, AI and digital twins across timber production and building assembly.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Austria’s Ybbs Mill Passes One Million Cubic Metres of CLT
Stora Enso reports that its Ybbs mill has delivered one million cubic metres of cross-laminated timber, a major industrial milestone for European mass timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Inside WOODWISE: Full-Scale Fire Tests Put Mass Timber to the Test
USDA researchers and partners are burning room-sized CLT compartments to measure fire behaviour, emissions and the effect of exposed versus encapsulated timber.
Jul 28, 20262min
0California’s First DLT Producer Turns Underused Trees into Building Panels
Mad River Mass Timber is producing dowel-laminated timber in California, creating a potential market for underused local species without structural adhesives.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Mass Timber Laboratory Meets Demanding Vibration-Control Requirements
Oregon State University’s 143,000-square-foot research complex uses mass plywood panels in floors engineered for sensitive equipment, extending mass timber into a building type normally associated with concrete.
Nov 29, 20255min
0Traditional Joinery & Japanese/Scandinavian Influence – The Craft That Gives Soul to a Timberframe
Japanese precision, Scandinavian simplicity, and traditional craftsmanship — the magic inside every soulful timberframe structure.
Nov 28, 20255min
0When Our Ancestors Started Notching Logs: The Story of a 476,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure
Archaeologists discovered a notched wooden structure dated to 476,000 years ago — proving early hominins built the earliest known timber framing long before Homo sapiens existed.
Case Studies
Jul 30, 20265min
0Mass Timber vs Concrete at 12 Storeys: What Dartmouth’s Feasibility Study Found
A new side-by-side study tests first cost, schedule, finance and embodied carbon for a proposed 12-storey rental building.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Mass Timber vs Conventional Civic Construction: What 500 County Center Actually Saved
A California civic office earned LEED Platinum in May 2026. Its timber comparison is strongest when schedule, embodied carbon and operational energy stay separate.
Jul 30, 20265min
0The Hive Reaches Structural Completion: How a Timber Tower Recenters After an Earthquake
Vancouver’s ten-storey timber office uses perimeter glulam braces and self-centering connections to manage earthquake forces without a conventional concrete core.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Oslo Adds Two Timber Storeys to a 150-Year-Old Building
Øvre Vollgate 11 combines a protected masonry structure with new glulam trusses and mass-timber floors, showing how lightweight prefabrication can unlock urban extensions.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Predazzo’s Olympic Village Builds Its Legacy in Timber
The 2026 Winter Games village in Predazzo combines new timber and steel accommodation with renovated historic buildings, then returns the permanent campus to the Guardia di Finanza after the athletes leave.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Munich’s 27,500 m² Sun Office Moves Ahead as a Timber Hybrid
Glulam, CLT and timber-concrete ribbed slabs form the structural system of Sun, a large Munich workplace designed around renewable energy and flexible floorplates.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Shakespeare Gets a Curved Mass-Timber Stage in New York’s Hudson Valley
The 451-seat Scripps Theater Center opens beneath a bird-wing-inspired timber grid shell designed to frame both performance and landscape.
Jul 30, 20263min
0London’s 4 Arbour Street Opens with a Hybrid CLT and Low-Carbon Concrete Structure
The first office building at Brent Cross Town is now open. Its structure combines cross-laminated timber slabs with precast concrete beams and columns, offering a practical case study in hybrid material design.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Atlassian Central tops out at 180 metres—and resets the hybrid timber record
Sydney’s 39-storey Atlassian Central reached full structural height on 22 July 2026. At more than 180 metres, the timber–steel–concrete tower tests whether prefabricated “habitats” can scale inside a global office landmark.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Zurich’s Pink CLT Railway Yard Was Assembled in Just Five Months
Remise Rosa turns an abandoned rail site into a 2,500-square-metre social destination using CNC-cut timber, bridges, terraces and an unapologetically pink finish.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Finland’s Award-Winning Puusauna Lets Whole Trees Carry the Roof
Jaakko Torvinen’s island sauna combines hand-hewn logs, CLT, glulam and minimally processed tree trunks in a structural experiment with crooked wood.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Amsterdam’s The Ark Starts Building 125 Apartments With 3,264 m³ of Timber
Seven timber residential levels, exposed wood interiors and more than 3,200 cubic metres of CLT and glulam make The Ark a major urban housing test.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Brunssum Builds Eight Storeys of Timber for 39 Social-Rental Homes
De Wilde Tuin uses a CLT core, timber frame and prefabricated façades to place affordable housing and a rain garden on a former petrol-station site.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Under Armour’s Baltimore headquarters turns mass timber into workplace infrastructure
A March 2026 supplier update provides a fresh look at the 280,000 ft² Baltimore campus, where visible CLT and glulam sit alongside geothermal wells, solar power and off-site coordination.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Theodore Roosevelt’s Mass Timber Library Opens in the Badlands
Snøhetta’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opens on 4 July 2026 with a mass-timber and steel structure, rammed earth walls and a planted roof.
Jul 28, 20263min
0TRÆ Pairs a Timber Tower with Reclaimed Aluminium and Wind-Turbine Blades
The 20-level, 78-metre TRÆ building in Aarhus combines a timber-led hybrid structure with reused façade materials and turbine-blade sunshades, offering a pragmatic model for circular high-rise construction.
Dec 11, 20256min
0WMS 2025 Recap: The 5 Most Exciting Timber Frame Innovations (and 1 That Made Us Say “Wait, What?”)
A fast, funny, builder-grade recap of the best (and strangest) timber framing innovations revealed at WMS 2025—from contactless blade safety to on-bed CNC labeling and modular beam saws that scale with your shop.
Dec 10, 20256min
0Wood vs. Steel: The Exact Calculation of Embodied Carbon Reduction in Mass Timber Structures
A data-driven breakdown of how much carbon mass timber truly saves compared to steel and concrete, backed by real LCAs from award-winning buildings.
Dec 9, 20258min
0Top 10 Timber Projects by Think Wood: What the Most Awarded Wooden Buildings of 2024 Teach Us About Excellence
From NBA training centers to university labs and iconic arenas, Think Wood’s Top 10 Timber Projects of 2024 reveal how mass timber has become the gold standard for sustainable, high-performance architecture.
Dec 9, 20259min
0From Rustic Cabin to Massive Stadium: The Spectacular Evolution of Timber Structures
Once used for small cabins and barns, timber now supports massive stadiums, skyscrapers, and research centers. This is the story of how wood became one of the most advanced structural materials on Earth.
Nov 28, 20255min
0When Our Ancestors Started Notching Logs: The Story of a 476,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure
Archaeologists discovered a notched wooden structure dated to 476,000 years ago — proving early hominins built the earliest known timber framing long before Homo sapiens existed.
Regulations
Jul 30, 20264min
1Ireland Lays the Groundwork for a “Wood First” Policy in Public Projects
Ireland’s Timber in Construction Steering Group has delivered a seven-point roadmap covering regulation, procurement, carbon, skills and industry capacity. Its proposed “Wood First” approach would make timber the first material considered for public projects—not an automatic choice and not yet a nationwide mandate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0France Publishes a New Test Route for Timber-Frame Façades
FCBA’s 2026 guidance gives manufacturers and project teams a clearer way to verify how external cladding behaves on timber-frame façades under deformation and wind-driven rain.
Jul 30, 20265min
0France Wants Timber on the Podium for the 2030 Winter Olympics
The France Bois 2030 mission is turning the French Alps Winter Games into a test of local timber supply, low-carbon procurement and long-term reuse. Launched in 2026, it aims to help project teams specify French wood without repeating avoidable mistakes from Paris 2024.
Jul 30, 20266min
0Romania’s Timber Industry Calls for 25% Wood in Every New Public Building
ASFOR is asking Romania to require wood products to represent at least 25% of the value of each new public building. The 2026 proposal could reshape procurement, but it is an industry position—not an adopted law.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Romania Already Has Rules for CLT Buildings—What Designers Need to Know in 2026
Romania’s timber design regulation includes specific provisions for cross-laminated timber walls, openings and product documentation. The challenge in 2026 is turning those clauses into coordinated, verifiable project workflows.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Britain Imports Most of Its Timber—Could Homegrown C16 Change the Specification?
The Forestry Commission says roughly 75–80% of the timber consumed in the UK is imported. New 2026 guidance argues that homegrown C16 timber is suitable for many structural applications if it is specified early.
Jul 29, 20263min
0England’s Future Homes Standard Is Here: Why Timber Frame Could Gain from a Fabric-First Race
England published the Future Homes and Buildings Standards in March 2026. Heat pumps, solar generation and tighter performance rules put envelope quality and repeatable off-site construction under pressure.
Jul 29, 20266min
0Canada puts mass timber inside its 2026 forest-sector reset
A federal transformation task force, new manufacturing investments and a renewed housing-focused wood programme place mass timber and prefabrication inside Canada’s industrial strategy—not just its architecture pages.
Jul 29, 20265min
0The Hague Signs Off on a 76-Metre Timber Government Tower
A 19-storey office for the Dutch education ministry and DUO will combine a timber structure, natural ventilation, prefabrication and a digital twin.
Jul 28, 20262min
0The LIMBER Act Could Bring US Mass Timber a $5-per-Square-Foot Tax Credit
A 2026 bill in Congress proposes federal tax credits for mass-timber factories, workforce training and qualifying buildings—but it has not become law.
Jul 28, 20262min
0EUDR Goes Live for Timber in 2026: What the New EU Rules Require
The EU Deforestation Regulation reaches its first application deadline on 30 December 2026, making traceability, geolocation and due diligence central issues for timber supply chains.
Jul 28, 20263min
0PEFC Introduces Traceability Certification for Individual Construction Projects
PEFC ST 2102:2026 applies Chain of Custody principles at project level, allowing complex buildings to document certified timber across multiple suppliers, subcontractors and products.
Jul 28, 20263min
0US Bill Proposes Federal Incentives for Mass Timber Buildings
The Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act of 2026 would create contracting preferences for federal projects using innovative wood products. It could influence public, renovation and military construction, but remains a bill—not adopted law.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Proposed Fire Rules Could Restrict Timber Buildings Above 11 Metres in England
England is consulting on changes to Approved Document B that would remove its standard guidance route for combustible structural elements above 11 metres. The proposal could reshape even modest mid-rise timber projects, but it is not a final ban.
Dec 9, 20256min
1How I Started Building a House and Ended Up Building Software.
The story of how a gold-flake-water-drinking architect's useless napkin sketch drove a DIYer to build his own browser-based timber frame design software from scratch.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Comparison
Jul 30, 20265min
0Mass Timber vs Concrete at 12 Storeys: What Dartmouth’s Feasibility Study Found
A new side-by-side study tests first cost, schedule, finance and embodied carbon for a proposed 12-storey rental building.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wood-Fibre Panels vs Conventional Envelopes Across North American Climates
A new modelling study tests whether prefabricated wood-fibre insulated panels save energy from cold Canada to hot-humid regions.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Mass Timber vs Conventional Civic Construction: What 500 County Center Actually Saved
A California civic office earned LEED Platinum in May 2026. Its timber comparison is strongest when schedule, embodied carbon and operational energy stay separate.
Jul 30, 20264min
0All Mass Timber Is Not the Same: A Beginner’s Guide to Species, Grades and Bonding
A May 2026 review shows why “mass timber” describes a family of products, not one interchangeable material.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wooden Dowels vs Metal Fasteners: A Beginner’s Guide to Timber-Only Connections
May 2026 tests compare wooden-dowel capacity with design models and show where timber-only connections offer circular potential.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Dec 14, 20258min
0Barr vs. Narex: The Ultimate Timber Frame Chisel Showdown (Tested on Real White Oak)
We put two legends of timber framing—Barr Tools and Narex—to a real workshop test: white oak, end grain, identical mortises. One costs €145, the other €32. Here’s what actually matters.
Dec 12, 20256min
0Mallets, Adzes, and Marking Knives: The Quiet Power Tools You’re Underestimating
Power tools scream, but traditional hand tools whisper—and still deliver joinery accuracy down to fractions of a millimeter. Meet the mallet, adze, and marking knife: three timeless tools that shape timber with precision, control, and zero battery anxiety.
Dec 12, 20258min
0DeWalt, Makita, or Milwaukee? The 2025 Timber Framer’s Power Tool Trifecta — Decoded
Choosing between DeWalt, Makita, and Milwaukee in 2025 isn’t about brand loyalty—it’s about torque, battery ecosystems, durability, and how each tool performs in real timber framing conditions. Here’s the honest breakdown.
Dec 12, 20257min
0Milwaukee’s ‘Brute Force’ vs. DeWalt’s ‘Atomic Speed’: Which Philosophy Fits Your Timber Framing Style?
Milwaukee brings brute-force torque. DeWalt brings hyper-efficient speed. We tested both on real timber framing tasks—white oak (6×8 in / 150×200 mm), structural lag screws, wet weather, and long battery cycles—to see which tool matches your building style.
Dec 11, 20257min
0The “One Battery Platform” Rule: Why Mixing Brands Is a Startup’s Biggest (and Costliest) Mistake
Starting a workshop with three tool brands, five chargers, and seven incompatible batteries sounds harmless—until your drill clicks dead on a jobsite. Here’s why choosing one battery ecosystem saves time, money, and sanity.
Dec 11, 20256min
0Festool vs. Makita Sander Showdown: Is $400 Worth Zero Vibration & Perfect Dust Capture?
A clear, real-world comparison between the Festool ETS 150/3 EQ and the Makita BO5041K. We test vibration, dust collection, finish quality, ergonomics, and long-term value to reveal when paying extra truly makes sense.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Beginner Guide
Jul 30, 20264min
0All Mass Timber Is Not the Same: A Beginner’s Guide to Species, Grades and Bonding
A May 2026 review shows why “mass timber” describes a family of products, not one interchangeable material.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wooden Dowels vs Metal Fasteners: A Beginner’s Guide to Timber-Only Connections
May 2026 tests compare wooden-dowel capacity with design models and show where timber-only connections offer circular potential.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Does CLT Always Sound Hollow? What New Listening Tests Found
A 2026 listening study turns simulated footsteps and jumps into design evidence for quieter cross-laminated timber floors.
Jul 30, 20269min
0The Hollow-Chisel Mortiser: Your New Best Friend for 100 Perfect Mortises (Before Lunch)
The hollow-chisel mortiser is the ultimate time-saving, precision-boosting tool for timber framers. Here’s why it beats hand-chopping in speed, accuracy, and sanity—featuring Sven & Olaf’s legendary woodworking wisdom.
Dec 14, 20256min
0Chisels, Slicks, and Squares: Your First 5 Hand Tools for Timber Framing (and Why Your Grandpa Was Right)
Your first five hand tools for timber framing—framing square, chisels, slick, marking knife, and wooden mallet—are more than nostalgia. They’re precision instruments that still outperform power tools when joinery really matters.
Dec 12, 20259min
0Makita’s Secret Weapon: Why Their 18V Ecosystem Is the Smart Choice for Startups (and Budget-Conscious Pros)
One battery, 200+ tools, zero chaos. Here’s why Makita’s 18V LXT ecosystem is the smartest path for startups, small workshops, and builders who want pro performance without breaking the bank.
Dec 11, 20259min
0Budget ≠ Bad: 7 Affordable Tools That Won’t Die on Day 2 (and 1 Dangerous Drill You Must Avoid)
Not all cheap tools are junk. These 7 budget-friendly workshop heroes deliver real performance—plus one dangerously bad drill you should remove from your shop today.
Dec 11, 20257min
0The “One Battery Platform” Rule: Why Mixing Brands Is a Startup’s Biggest (and Costliest) Mistake
Starting a workshop with three tool brands, five chargers, and seven incompatible batteries sounds harmless—until your drill clicks dead on a jobsite. Here’s why choosing one battery ecosystem saves time, money, and sanity.
Dec 9, 20256min
1How I Started Building a House and Ended Up Building Software.
The story of how a gold-flake-water-drinking architect's useless napkin sketch drove a DIYer to build his own browser-based timber frame design software from scratch.
Dec 9, 202510min
0The Perfect Tool Kit for a Timberframe-Style Pergola (Imperial + Metric)
Build a real timberframe-style pergola in one weekend using modern tools and hardware. This complete imperial + metric tool list covers layout, cutting, assembly, and finishing—no fantasy tools, only what actually works on site.
Dec 9, 202510min
0Start a Timber Frame Business Under $50,000
Learn how to launch a small timber frame shop on a lean budget: tools, workspace, pricing, marketing and a first-year roadmap without going broke.
Dec 9, 20257min
0Timber Homes That Belong: How to Build Like a Local
Tired of fake chalets and cosplay cabins? Discover how modern timber homes can actually belong to their landscape instead of looking like confused tourists.
Safety
Jul 30, 20265min
0The Hive Reaches Structural Completion: How a Timber Tower Recenters After an Earthquake
Vancouver’s ten-storey timber office uses perimeter glulam braces and self-centering connections to manage earthquake forces without a conventional concrete core.
Jul 30, 20263min
0France Publishes a New Test Route for Timber-Frame Façades
FCBA’s 2026 guidance gives manufacturers and project teams a clearer way to verify how external cladding behaves on timber-frame façades under deformation and wind-driven rain.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Italy Tests a Hybrid Timber System for Taller, Earthquake-Resilient Buildings
The HyWood4Buildings research project combines solid-sawn timber walls with a steel–timber lateral system, aiming to use local wood more efficiently in taller and reusable structures.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Solibri’s 2026 reset puts model checking before the expensive timber mistake
Solibri launched a new platform on 13 April 2026 with cloud-connected checking, point-cloud support and a browser-based WebChecker beta. Timber prefabrication gives those features unusually high stakes.
Jul 28, 20262min
0Inside WOODWISE: Full-Scale Fire Tests Put Mass Timber to the Test
USDA researchers and partners are burning room-sized CLT compartments to measure fire behaviour, emissions and the effect of exposed versus encapsulated timber.
Jul 28, 20263min
0Proposed Fire Rules Could Restrict Timber Buildings Above 11 Metres in England
England is consulting on changes to Approved Document B that would remove its standard guidance route for combustible structural elements above 11 metres. The proposal could reshape even modest mid-rise timber projects, but it is not a final ban.
Jun 8, 202610min
0Why AI Still Struggles With Real Timber-Frame Design — And Why That Matters
AI can generate a beautiful timber house in seconds. But can it place the posts correctly, align the plates, respect structural logic, and produce something a builder can actually cut? That is where things get interesting.
Dec 16, 20258min
0Festool’s Hidden Gem: The Domino XL DF 700 for Timber Frame Bracing — Yes, Really
The Domino XL (DF 700) isn’t a replacement for traditional mortise-and-tenon—but it is a surprisingly useful “plan B” for temporary bracing, non-structural timber details, and repair work. Here’s where it shines, where it doesn’t, and how to use it without upsetting the timber gods.
Dec 11, 202510min
0Dust Ain’t Just Dirt—It’s a Liability: Why Your Dust Collection System Is Non-Negotiable (and What’s New in 2025)
Dust isn’t just mess—it’s a health hazard, a machine killer, and a hidden liability. Here’s why modern dust collection systems in 2025 are smarter, quieter, safer, and absolutely essential for timber framing workshops of any size.
Dec 11, 20259min
0Budget ≠ Bad: 7 Affordable Tools That Won’t Die on Day 2 (and 1 Dangerous Drill You Must Avoid)
Not all cheap tools are junk. These 7 budget-friendly workshop heroes deliver real performance—plus one dangerously bad drill you should remove from your shop today.
Dec 9, 20258min
0From Thatch to Tile Backer Panels: How to Protect Timber Structures for the Long Haul
Behind every long-lasting timber structure lies an invisible defense system against moisture, UV, insects, and decay. From ancient thatch to modern backer panels, this is the science of durability.
Oct 13, 20255min
2I Thought a Tape Measure Was Optional… Until My Shed Looked Like It Was Doing the Samba
A hilariously true tale of DIY timber framing gone wrong—and the tools that saved my shed (and my marriage).
Costs
Jul 30, 20265min
0Mass Timber vs Concrete at 12 Storeys: What Dartmouth’s Feasibility Study Found
A new side-by-side study tests first cost, schedule, finance and embodied carbon for a proposed 12-storey rental building.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Mass Timber vs Conventional Civic Construction: What 500 County Center Actually Saved
A California civic office earned LEED Platinum in May 2026. Its timber comparison is strongest when schedule, embodied carbon and operational energy stay separate.
Jul 29, 20263min
0Brunssum Builds Eight Storeys of Timber for 39 Social-Rental Homes
De Wilde Tuin uses a CLT core, timber frame and prefabricated façades to place affordable housing and a rain garden on a former petrol-station site.
Jul 28, 20262min
0The LIMBER Act Could Bring US Mass Timber a $5-per-Square-Foot Tax Credit
A 2026 bill in Congress proposes federal tax credits for mass-timber factories, workforce training and qualifying buildings—but it has not become law.
Jul 28, 20263min
0BuildSpec Brings Structure, Cost and Carbon into Concept Design
Mercer Mass Timber’s BuildSpec lets project teams test hybrid CLT and cold-formed-steel configurations early, producing preliminary quantities, costs and embodied-carbon estimates before detailed engineering.
Jun 8, 202610min
0Why AI Still Struggles With Real Timber-Frame Design — And Why That Matters
AI can generate a beautiful timber house in seconds. But can it place the posts correctly, align the plates, respect structural logic, and produce something a builder can actually cut? That is where things get interesting.
Dec 11, 20256min
0Festool vs. Makita Sander Showdown: Is $400 Worth Zero Vibration & Perfect Dust Capture?
A clear, real-world comparison between the Festool ETS 150/3 EQ and the Makita BO5041K. We test vibration, dust collection, finish quality, ergonomics, and long-term value to reveal when paying extra truly makes sense.
Dec 9, 20257min
0Timber Homes That Belong: How to Build Like a Local
Tired of fake chalets and cosplay cabins? Discover how modern timber homes can actually belong to their landscape instead of looking like confused tourists.
Nov 29, 20255min
0Traditional Joinery & Japanese/Scandinavian Influence – The Craft That Gives Soul to a Timberframe
Japanese precision, Scandinavian simplicity, and traditional craftsmanship — the magic inside every soulful timberframe structure.
Myths & Facts
Jul 30, 20263min
0Rain Does Not Stop at the Surface: CAT Scans Show How CLT Gets Wet
New CAT-scan research maps moisture paths inside rain-exposed CLT and explains why surface readings are not the whole story.
Jul 30, 20264min
0All Mass Timber Is Not the Same: A Beginner’s Guide to Species, Grades and Bonding
A May 2026 review shows why “mass timber” describes a family of products, not one interchangeable material.
Jul 30, 20265min
0Does CLT Always Sound Hollow? What New Listening Tests Found
A 2026 listening study turns simulated footsteps and jumps into design evidence for quieter cross-laminated timber floors.
Jul 30, 20263min
1The Big Viking Wood Puzzle
How Vikings invented timber framing—with no nails, just stubbornness, mead, and the mighty mortise-and-tenon.
Dec 9, 20256min
1How I Started Building a House and Ended Up Building Software.
The story of how a gold-flake-water-drinking architect's useless napkin sketch drove a DIYer to build his own browser-based timber frame design software from scratch.
Dec 9, 202510min
0The Perfect Tool Kit for a Timberframe-Style Pergola (Imperial + Metric)
Build a real timberframe-style pergola in one weekend using modern tools and hardware. This complete imperial + metric tool list covers layout, cutting, assembly, and finishing—no fantasy tools, only what actually works on site.
Nov 29, 20255min
0Traditional Joinery & Japanese/Scandinavian Influence – The Craft That Gives Soul to a Timberframe
Japanese precision, Scandinavian simplicity, and traditional craftsmanship — the magic inside every soulful timberframe structure.
Nov 28, 20255min
0When Our Ancestors Started Notching Logs: The Story of a 476,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure
Archaeologists discovered a notched wooden structure dated to 476,000 years ago — proving early hominins built the earliest known timber framing long before Homo sapiens existed.
Oct 13, 20255min
2I Thought a Tape Measure Was Optional… Until My Shed Looked Like It Was Doing the Samba
A hilariously true tale of DIY timber framing gone wrong—and the tools that saved my shed (and my marriage).
Energy Efficiency
Jul 30, 20263min
0Wood-Fibre Panels vs Conventional Envelopes Across North American Climates
A new modelling study tests whether prefabricated wood-fibre insulated panels save energy from cold Canada to hot-humid regions.
Jul 30, 20264min
0Mass Timber vs Conventional Civic Construction: What 500 County Center Actually Saved
A California civic office earned LEED Platinum in May 2026. Its timber comparison is strongest when schedule, embodied carbon and operational energy stay separate.
Jul 30, 20263min
0Small Cabins, Big Dreams – Why Timberframe Houses Under 100 m² Are Taking Over
Small cabins, lower costs, big comfort. Why compact timberframe houses are dominating 2025.
Dec 9, 20254min
0Timber Titans: 2025’s Wooden Buildings With Big Personalities
Meet the nurturing mom, the gym-bro tower, and the anxious eco-city starring in 2025’s mass-timber soap opera.
Dec 9, 202510min
0Biophilia in Buildings: How Timber Structures Boost Wellbeing and Productivity
Modern timber buildings don’t just look good—they actively improve how we feel and perform. Discover the science behind biophilia, why real wood changes the brain, and how timber design boosts wellbeing, focus, and recovery.
Nov 28, 20254min
0When Wood Meets Sunlight: Why Timber Frame + Solar Panels Is Becoming the Future of Sustainable Building
Timber frame construction combined with solar panels is rapidly becoming the global standard for sustainable architecture, blending natural materials with renewable energy.
Nov 12, 20256min
0Dark Timber & Open Living: 2025’s Hottest Timber Frame Design Trends for Modern Homes
Dark beams, open layouts, and smart details redefining modern timber frame living in 2025.