Nail-Laminated Timber Design and Construction Guide released

The Bi-national Softwood Lumber Council recently released the Nail-Laminated Timber (NLT) U.S. Design and Construction Guide.

The first-of-its-kind manual for the U.S. design and construction community was conceived and prepared by practitioners dedicated to advancing high-quality timber construction across industries, typologies, and geographies. Available for free download at reThinkWood.com, the guide provides direction to ensure safe, predictable, and economical use of NLT.

The document also offers practical strategies and guidance, including lessons learned from real-life projects. It is consistent with current codes and standards, including the 2015 International Building Code.

The guide focuses on design and construction considerations for horizontal NLT applications pertaining to U.S. construction practice and standards. Unlike other mass timber products, NLT does not require a unique manufacturing facility and can be fabricated with local dimension lumber for use in applications across sectors and building types. “Nail-laminated timber is a cost-effective solution for those looking to leverage the economic and environmental benefits of mass timber construction,” said Cees de Jager, General Manager of the Bi-national Softwood Lumber Council.

“While NLT has been incorporated into U.S. building codes for decades, available resources are dated and have been focused on prescriptive, rather than engineered applications," said Rebecca Holt, of Perkins + Will.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.