This is my grandfather. And this is my son. My grandfather taught me to work with wood when I was a little boy, and he also taught me the idea that if you cut down a tree to turn it into something, honor that tree's life and make it as beautiful as you possibly can. My little boy reminded me that for all the technology and all the toys in the world, sometimes just a small block of wood, if you stack it up tall, actually is an incredibly inspiring thing. These are my buildings. I build all around the world out of our office in Vancouver and New York. And we build buildings of different sizes and styles and different materials, depending on where we are. But wood is the material that I love the most, and I'm going to tell you the story about wood. And part of the reason I love it is that every time people go into my buildings that are wood, I notice they react completely differently. I've never seen anybody walk into one of my buildings and hug a steel or a concrete column, but I've actually seen that happen in a wood building. I've actually seen how people touch the wood, and I think there's a reason for it. Just like snowflakes, no two pieces of wood can ever be the same anywhere on Earth. That's a wonderful thing. I like to think that wood gives Mother Nature fingerprints in our buildings. It's Mother Nature's fingerprints that make our buildings connect us to nature in the built environment. Now, I live in Vancouver, near a forest that grows to 33 stories tall. Down the coast here in California, the redwood forest grows to 40 stories tall. But the buildings that we think about in wood are only four stories tall in most places on Earth. Even building codes actually limit the ability for us to build much taller than four stories in many places, and that's true here in the United States. Now there are exceptions, but there needs to be some exceptions, and things are going to change, I'm hoping. And the reason I think that way is that today half of us live in cities, and that number is going to grow to 75 percent. Cities and density mean that our buildings are going to continue to be big, and I think there's a role for wood to play in cities. And I feel that way because three billion people in the world today, over the next 20 years, will need a new home. That's 40 percent of the world that are going to need a new building built for them in the next 20 years. Now, one in three people living in cities today actually live in a slum. That's one billion people in the world live in slums. A hundred million people in the world are homeless. The scale of the challenge for architects and for society to deal with in building is to find a solution to house these people. But the challenge is, as we move to cities, cities are built in these two materials, steel and concrete, and they're great materials. They're the materials of the last century. But they're also materials with very high energy and very high greenhouse gas emissions in their process. Steel represents about three percent of man's greenhouse gas emissions, and concrete is over five percent. So if you think about that, eight percent of our contribution to greenhouse gases today comes from those two materials alone. We don't think about it a lot, and unfortunately, we actually don't even think about buildings, I think, as much as we should. This is a U.S. statistic about the impact of greenhouse gases. Almost half of our greenhouse gases are related to the building industry, and if we look at energy, it's the same story. You'll notice that transportation's sort of second down that list, but that's the conversation we mostly hear about. And although a lot of that is about energy, it's also so much about carbon. The problem I see is that, ultimately, the clash of how we solve that problem of serving those three billion people that need a home, and climate change, are a head-on collision about to happen, or already happening. That challenge means that we have to start thinking in new ways, and I think wood is going to be part of that solution, and I'm going to tell you the story of why. As an architect, wood is the only material, big material, that I can build with that's already grown by the power of the sun. When a tree grows in the forest and gives off oxygen and soaks up carbon dioxide, and it dies and it falls to the forest floor, it gives that carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere or into the ground. If it burns in a forest fire, it's going to give that carbon back to the atmosphere as well. But if you take that wood and you put it into a building or into a piece of furniture or into that wooden toy, it actually has an amazing capacity to store the carbon and provide us with a sequestration. One cubic meter of wood will store one tonne of carbon dioxide. Now our two solutions to climate are obviously to reduce our emissions and find storage. Wood is the only major material building material I can build with that actually does both those two things. So I believe that we have an ethic that the Earth grows our food, and we need to move to an ethic in this century that the Earth should grow our homes. Now, how are we going to do that when we're urbanizing at this rate and we think about wood buildings only at four stories? We need to reduce the concrete and steel and we need to grow bigger, and what we've been working on is 30-story tall buildings made of wood. We've been engineering them with an engineer named Eric Karsh who works with me on it, and we've been doing this new work because there are new wood products out there for us to use, and we call them mass timber panels. These are panels made with young trees, small growth trees, small pieces of wood glued together to make panels that are enormous: eight feet wide, 64 feet long, and of various thicknesses. The way I describe this best, I've found, is to say that we're all used to two-by-four construction when we think about wood. That's what people jump to as a conclusion. Two-by-four construction is sort of like the little eight-dot bricks of Lego that we all played with as kids, and you can make all kinds of cool things out of Lego at that size, and out of two-by-fours. But do remember when you were a kid, and you kind of sifted through the pile in your basement, and you found that big 24-dot brick of Lego, and you were kind of like, "Cool, this is awesome. I can build something really big, and this is going to be great." That's the change. Mass timber panels are those 24-dot bricks. They're changing the scale of what we can do, and what we've developed is something we call FFTT, which is a Creative Commons solution to building a very flexible system of building with these large panels where we tilt up six stories at a time if we want to. This animation shows you how the building goes together in a very simple way, but these buildings are available for architects and engineers now to build on for different cultures in the world, different architectural styles and characters. In order for us to build safely, we've engineered these buildings, actually, to work in a Vancouver context, where we're a high seismic zone, even at 30 stories tall. Now obviously, every time I bring this up, people even, you know, here at the conference, say, "Are you serious? Thirty stories? How's that going to happen?" And there's a lot of really good questions that are asked and important questions that we spent quite a long time working on the answers to as we put together our report and the peer reviewed report. I'm just going to focus on a few of them, and let's start with fire, because I think fire is probably the first one that you're all thinking about right now. Fair enough. And the way I describe it is this. If I asked you to take a match and light it and hold up a log and try to get that log to go on fire, it doesn't happen, right? We all know that. But to build a fire, you kind of start with small pieces of wood and you work your way up, and eventually you can add the log to the fire, and when you do add the log to the fire, of course, it burns, but it burns slowly. Well, mass timber panels, these new products that we're using, are much like the log. It's hard to start them on fire, and when they do, they actually burn extraordinarily predictably, and we can use fire science in order to predict and make these buildings as safe as concrete and as safe as steel. The next big issue, deforestation. Eighteen percent of our contribution to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide is the result of deforestation. The last thing we want to do is cut down trees. Or, the last thing we want to do is cut down the wrong trees. There are models for sustainable forestry that allow us to cut trees properly, and those are the only trees appropriate to use for these kinds of systems. Now I actually think that these ideas will change the economics of deforestation. In countries with deforestation issues, we need to find a way to provide better value for the forest and actually encourage people to make money through very fast growth cycles -- 10-, 12-, 15-year-old trees that make these products and allow us to build at this scale. We've calculated a 20-story building: We'll grow enough wood in North America every 13 minutes. That's how much it takes. The carbon story here is a really good one. If we built a 20-story building out of cement and concrete, the process would result in the manufacturing of that cement and 1,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide. If we did it in wood, in this solution, we'd sequester about 3,100 tonnes, for a net difference of 4,300 tonnes. That's the equivalent of about 900 cars removed from the road in one year. Think back to that three billion people that need a new home, and maybe this is a contributor to reducing. We're at the beginning of a revolution, I hope, in the way we build, because this is the first new way to build a skyscraper in probably 100 years or more. But the challenge is changing society's perception of possibility, and it's a huge challenge. The engineering is, truthfully, the easy part of this. And the way I describe it is this. The first skyscraper, technically -- and the definition of a skyscraper is 10 stories tall, believe it or not — but the first skyscraper was this one in Chicago, and people were terrified to walk underneath this building. But only four years after it was built, Gustave Eiffel was building the Eiffel Tower, and as he built the Eiffel Tower, he changed the skylines of the cities of the world, changed and created a competition between places like New York City and Chicago, where developers started building bigger and bigger buildings and pushing the envelope up higher and higher with better and better engineering. We built this model in New York, actually, as a theoretical model on the campus of a technical university soon to come, and the reason we picked this site to just show you what these buildings may look like, because the exterior can change. It's really just the structure that we're talking about. The reason we picked it is because this is a technical university, and I believe that wood is the most technologically advanced material I can build with. It just happens to be that Mother Nature holds the patent, and we don't really feel comfortable with it. But that's the way it should be, nature's fingerprints in the built environment. I'm looking for this opportunity to create an Eiffel Tower moment, we call it. Buildings are starting to go up around the world. There's a building in London that's nine stories, a new building that just finished in Australia that I believe is 10 or 11. We're starting to push the height up of these wood buildings, and we're hoping, and I'm hoping, that my hometown of Vancouver actually potentially announces the world's tallest at around 20 stories in the not-so-distant future. That Eiffel Tower moment will break the ceiling, these arbitrary ceilings of height, and allow wood buildings to join the competition. And I believe the race is ultimately on. Thank you. (Applause)
这是我的爷爷 这是我的儿子 我爷爷教了我做木工活儿 在我还是个小男孩的时候 他还教给我这样一个观念: 如果你砍下一棵树要把它做成什么东西, 尊重这棵树的生命,并且尽可能 把这个东西做得漂亮 我的儿子让我想到 世界上所有的技术,所有的玩具 甚至有时候就一小块木头 如果你把它堆高 就会变成不可思议的振奋人心的事 这些是我的建筑作品 我建造的房屋遍布世界 它们都来自我们在温哥华和纽约的工作室 我们建造不同大小,不同风格的房子 用不同的材料,看我们在哪儿造房子 但是木头是我最喜爱的材料 接下来我会和你们说说木头的故事 我喜欢木头的部分原因是每次 人们走进我用木头造的房子时 我注意到他们的反应是完全不同于走进其他房子的 我从未见过任何人走进我的建筑 拥抱钢筋或水泥柱 但是我看过他们拥抱木材建筑 我亲眼看过人们触摸那些木头 我认为这是有原因的 就想雪花一样,地球上任何地方 没有两块木头是一样的 这太奇妙了! 我想木头 让我们的房子有大自然的印记 建筑的自然特征 把我们和自然结合在人为建筑环境里 现在,我住在温哥华,靠近 33层楼高的树林 沿着海岸到加利福尼亚,红木林 长到40层楼高 但是全球用木头做的建筑 大多数只有四层高 尽管在很多地方,建筑规则限制了我们 建超过四层高 美国就是如此 现在对此有一些异议 但的确需要有异议 和要改变的事,我希望 我这样想是因为 今天有一半的人住在城市 但将来一半会增到75% 城市和人口密度的增加意味着我们的建筑 将来依然会很大 而我认为木头在城市必不可少 我这样认为是因为想到当今世界的30亿人 在20年后 将需要新的家 就是说全球40%人口 在20年内需要新的房子 现在,事实上有1/3住在城市的人 是住在贫民窟 相当于全球有10亿人住在贫民窟 而世界上还有一亿人是无家可归的 建筑师和社会要面对的 巨大建筑挑战 是为这些人找到安身之处 但我们迁移到城市的挑战是 城市是由两种材料构成的 钢筋和混凝土,这些是很好的材料 它们是上个世纪最伟大的材料 但这些材料在生产中也有很高的能源消耗 和温室气体排放量 钢筋占了3%的 人类温室气体排放量 混凝土占了超过5% 所以这样算的话,现在 我们产生温室气体中的8% 仅来自于这两种材料 我们不怎么这样思考,更不幸的是 我认为,我们甚至根本没把建筑 放在眼里 这是关于温室气体效应在美国的统计 几乎一半的的温室气体和建筑业有关 在能源方面也是同样 你会发现,交通运输其实在这些方面排在第二 但我们最常听到谈论交通 尽管大多是只是关于能源 但它也关系到碳 我认为最终的问题是 如何解决 30亿人住房需求 和气候改变的冲突将会很尖锐 或者说已经很尖锐 这挑战要我们必须开始思考新的方法 我认为木材将会是一个出路 下面我将讲我的理由 作为建筑师,木材是唯一的 够大的,我能用来建筑的, 已经依靠太阳能生长好的材料 当一棵树长在森林,放出氧气 吸入二氧化碳, 死亡,倒在树林里 它把二氧化碳又还回大气或者大地 如果它在森林火灾中着火,它也把碳 还回了大气 但如果取了木材用在建筑里 或者家具里,或者玩具里 它事实上有了存储碳的神奇能力 并提供给我们缓冲保存期 一立方米的木材将存储 一顿的二氧化碳 现在我们解决气候问题的两个明显方法是 减少排放和找到存储介质 木材是我能使用的唯一 可以满足这两个方面的主要建筑材料 所以我认为,既然我们遵从 地球给我们生长食物的准则 在这个世纪,我们要遵从 地球给我们生长房子的准则 现在,我们如何做到这一点 在这样高速城市化的时代 而且我们只把木头建筑局限在四层 我们需要减少混凝土和钢筋,我们需要 种植更大的树,我们已经在设计建造 30层高的木头建筑 我们已经和一个工程师, Eric Karsh,开始了设计模拟 我们开始这项新项目是因为 刚好有新的木材供我们使用 我们把它们叫做大规模木板 这些木板由新树, 小树做成。小的木头 粘在一起做成巨大的板 有8英尺宽,64英尺长和各种宽度 我发现到最好的描述方法是,比如说, 我们都会想到了2乘4木块 当我们想到木头时 这是人们通常得到的结论 2乘4木块就像 我们小时候玩的乐高小八点积木 你可以做出各种很酷的东西,就用乐高 那么小的方块,或者2乘4木块 但是记住当你是小孩的时候, 你找遍地下室的堆积物 然后找到大的乐高24点积木 你会想 酷,太棒了,我可以堆些大东西了 将会很棒 这就是改变 大规模木板就是那些24点积木 它们改变我们能做的事的规模 我们已经开放的项目叫FFTT 这是一个创造性的公共解决方案 是为了建立一个很灵活的系统 我们可以用这些大木板 一下建起6层楼,如果我们想的话。 这个动画展示了如何简单地组合这样的建筑 但这些建筑现在已经可以供给 建筑师和工程师来建造 满足世界不同文化 不同建筑风格和特色的建筑 为了我们的建筑安全 事实上,我们已经模拟设计了这种楼 能适合温哥华 多震的环境 最高有30层 现在很明显地,每次我提到这 比如现在在会场,大家会说 “你不是开玩笑吧?30层?怎么可能?” 我们被问了很多很好的问题 还有些重要的问题让我们花了很长时间才回答 这些就发生在我们总结 我们的报告和专家评审报告时 我打算讲其中的几个 从火灾隐患将其,因为我想火 大概是大家都想到的第一个隐患 很好 这么说吧 如果我让你拿起一根火柴点燃 再拿起一节原木干并试着把它点燃 做不到,是不是?我们都知道这个常识 但是引发一个火灾,通常是从小片的 木头开始,然后慢慢变大 最后你可以把原木干加进去 当然当你把原木加入火场 它立马就燃烧了,但是很慢 那么,大规模木板,我们用的新材料 就像这原木干 它们很难被引燃,即便要着火, 它们事实上是特别易预测地 我们可以用防火学来预测 这样这些建筑就和混凝土一样安全 和钢筋一样安全 下一个大问题,毁坏树林 全球18%的 温室气体排放 源于滥砍滥伐 砍伐树木是我们最不愿做的事 或者说,砍伐错误的树木是我们最不愿做的 已经有可持续林业学的模型 来指导我们正确地采伐 这些只是适合 我们建筑系统的树木 现在我想这些想法 将会改变滥伐森林的经济观 在有滥伐森林问题的国家 我们需要找到赋予 树林更高价值的方法 并鼓励大家通过 更快的生长周期来赚钱 10,12,15年的树适合我们的生产要求 也满足我们的构造尺度 我们计算过一个20层楼: 在北美,每13分钟就可以生长出足够的木材 这就是所需要的 这种碳楼房真的非常好 如果我们用水泥混凝土建20层楼的建筑 这过程将需要生产水泥 还产出1200吨二氧化碳 如果我们用上面提的木材 我们将储存3100吨 相当于总共减少4300吨 这相当于一年从路上 少了900辆车 再回到30亿 需要一个新家的人 这会大大减少消耗 我希望我们正在建筑业大变革的起点 因为这是100年甚至更长时间内第一个新的 建造摩天楼的方法 但是挑战是改变社会对于这个方法可能性的认知 这是非常大的挑战 实话说,工程方面是简单的部分 可以这样理解这个问题 严格说第一个摩天楼—— 按照10层楼高的定义,信不信由你—— 第一个摩天楼就是这座在芝加哥的楼 人们当时被吓得不敢在这楼下走 但是仅在建好的四年后 埃菲尔(Gustave Eiffel)正建埃菲尔铁塔 当埃菲尔建好埃菲尔铁塔 他改变了世界的城市建筑群景观 改变也创造了城市间的竞争 比如纽约和芝加哥 开发商开始建越来越大的楼 把限度提的越来越高 还有越来越好的工程设计 实际上,我们在纽约建造了这个模型 作为一个将建的科技大学 的校园理论模型 我们选这个地点 只是要展示给你这些建筑大概会是什么样子 因为外观还会改变 这仅是我们正在讨论的结构 我选它的原因是这是个科技大学 我相信木头是 我能用的技术上最先进的材料 就碰巧大自然母亲拥有这项专利 我们其实有些不满这点 但这就是它应该是的样子 在建筑环境中拥有自然的特征 我期待这个机会 我们称为创建埃菲尔铁塔瞬间的机会 木材建筑整正开始在世界各地建起 现在在伦敦有一个9层的 在澳大利亚刚建好 一个约10或11层的木楼 我们正开始提高木材建筑的高度 我们希望,我也希望 我的温哥华故乡可以 有世界上最高的,约20层高的木楼 在不远的将来 埃菲尔铁塔时刻将会打破限制 高度的强制限制 让木材建筑加入这个竞争 我相信这个比赛最终开始了 谢谢大家 (鼓掌)