London’s Tallest Mass Timber Structure

The last 2 days revived a passion I had almost lost had it not been for the
Black&White building by Waugh Thistleton Architects in London. A few years ago, my friend Yangchen and I-being our most curious selves- would spend all our pocket money on buying and printing reading materials on We were drowning in admiration for our professors who taught us about timber structures. Too bad nothing came to fruition from our endless delusional conversations but not too bad for still being able to keep this fascination alive.

Walking inside Central London’s tallest mass timber structure on a Tuesday afternoon reminded me of home. I guess it was the smell of wood but also the space that made you feel safe and strangely empowered in the posh streets of London. Don’t get me wrong though, I do fancy the poshness.

What was more homely was meeting Andrew Waugh, the genius who unlocked architecture with the science of timber engineering. I instantly thought I wanted to be like Andrew, in the sense of having done something ground-breaking yet remembering to pick up his daughter on a Tuesday afternoon. But also in terms of advocating how timber can become the 21st-century building material. The Black&White building is a bold approach to sustainable construction. It is fully constructed with timber engineered in different ways and has 40% less embodied carbon! The frame structure is LVL(Laminated Veneer Lumber), the curtain walls are Glulam and the rest of the structure is CLT (Cross Laminated Timber). What fascinated me was that the structure hosted an open working space with different kinds of offices and meeting rooms. I’ve always imagined a space like this that could become a hub for innovations and to see this live was incredible.

Timber is so domestic to Bhutan and to have an international exposure to how it can be engineered is so divine. I am encouraged to explore this more