Pre-occupied: Timber prefabrication in the city

Abstract

Housing demand in Auckland, a product of population growth and Unitary Plan provisions for urban intensification, has developed at such a rate that current industry practices are failing to produce buildings in a timely manner. This highlights the inefficient nature of current construction practices and the mounting need for industry-wide exposure to new construction approaches.

The developing presence of prefabricated engineered timber products in New Zealand, specifically Laminated Veneered Lumber (LVL) and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), presents a number of new possibilities with regards to efficiency and multi-storey construction. Mindful of the quality-based issues that have hindered earlier examples of prefabrication, industry acceptance of and engagement with prefabricated engineered timber construction relies largely on understanding the material capabilities and the resulting spatial conditions.

Informed by the analyses of apartment and institutional buildings, this research seeks to demonstrate how the use of prefabricated engineered timber construction systems helps inform and create an efficiently constructed apartment complex in Auckland City. The outcome of this research serves to highlight the functional and architectonic qualities of prefabricated engineered timber construction within a residential capacity and present an informed model for future developments of this kind.