The Empire State Building from LVL

27.04.2021
Roumiana Vassileva

An iconic structure, such as the Empire State Building, made entirely of Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL), looks like a Utopian dream. And yet, it is more realistic than ever!

In an era, where the need for responsible management and usage of forestry resources turns into a religion for humankind, LVL enables one of the best yields of a tree log.

The steel-made Empire State Building required billion rounds of breaking, grinding, and melting rocks—costing a great deal of energy and therefore carbon dioxide emissions.

The LVL-dreamed Empire State Building promises to replace a material that releases huge amounts of carbon (steel releases nearly twice its weight in CO2 when produced) with one that could store it. Safely and for a very long time! All by looking stunning, warm, and solid in the grey and cold landscape of our modern urban jungle.

By 2050 the world´s population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, with nearly 70 percent projected to live in urban areas. The biggest challenge of today? How to design a city of tomorrow, educated by the lessons of the past, anticipating the challenges of the future. Engineered wood, such as Laminated Veneer Lumber, will be at the core of this enigma.

If an iconic skyscraper can be safely and efficiently built with LVL, so can everything else. The construction of the future doesn´t equate only with the strength and bulkiness of steel and concrete any longer. It equates with the intelligence of the engineered wood: light but strong, “breathing” but healthy, renewable but lasting.

The LVL-dreamed Empire State Building is a project referred to as “Plan B”. Surprisingly, it has never been more urgent to consider it a Plan A!

Read the original story by Metsä Group: 
EMPIRE STATE OF WOOD - MICHAEL GREEN ARCHITECTURE (mg-architecture.ca)

Roumiana is a Senior Business Development Executive with over 20 years of experience in the global engineered wood products (EWP) Industry. After managing Sales, Operations, and Marketing for Canadian Company Trus Joist, for American company Weyerhaeuser, and for Finnish Metsä Wood, Roumiana works currently as Raute expert, delivering turn-key LVL mills across the world, as a member of a strategic Experts team.

In addition, Roumiana supervises Raute´s global market Intelligence Unit, managing analysis of historical and current data for LVL, CLT, and I-Joists in international markets.

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