Even before a building receives its first occupant, it has a huge carbon debt. According to the World Green Building Council, the materials and construction needed to construct buildings around the world account for 11% of the planet’s carbon emissions.
Although experiments with high-rise wooden buildings have begun in some places and have recently reached new heights, it does not mean that wooden buildings will soon replace skyscrapers. But one Chilean startup thinks there’s still room for wood.
“We’re more interested in hybrid buildings,” Andrés Mitnik, co-founder and CEO of Strong by Form, told TechCrunch. His company has developed a new engineered wood product that can replace concrete and steel in structural floors, allowing architects to design buildings that are lighter and less carbon-intensive. The company is a Startup Battlefield Top 20 finalist and will be on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco this week.
The secret lies in the way the floorboards are made. “We think we can shape wood in a way that no one has ever done before,” he said.
Strong by Form has designed a structural flooring that can span longer distances than existing engineered wood, and is an alternative to steel and concrete. At the same time, this product is lighter than the three products.
On the outside, builders will see something familiar. “When the contractor gets it, they see the CLT. [cross-laminated timber] “All the connections, the construction systems, all the processes on site are exactly the same as if you were using CLT, so you don’t have to learn anything new,” Mitnik said.
But inside, the structure is filled with cavities, rather than the more solid wood found in CLT. Wood shavings are pressed into a corrugated board and optimized to withstand heavy loads.
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The wavy panels look like oriented strand board (OSB), which is commonly found on job sites. But Strong by Form has developed software and manufacturing techniques that fine-tune the size and placement of the wood flakes held together by an adhesive-like binder. “If you think about it that way, this is like the next generation of OSB,” Mitnik said.
By taking advantage of wood’s natural shape and strength, Strong by Form has now built a 10-meter (approximately 33 feet) long structural wood floor. Most CLT floors only span half that distance.
All of this technology isn’t free, but Mitnik said the higher cost of engineered wood products can be offset by lighter weight.
“The idea is to create something lightweight enough that you can optimize the structure overall,” he said. A lighter floor means less steel and concrete are used in the frame, lowering the overall cost of the building. “These additional savings allow us to achieve price parity with concrete.”
Strong by Form tests 10 meter panels to ensure they meet the fire resistance and load rating required by structural engineers.
Next, the company plans to raise a Series A round targeting $10 million to build a pilot plant to produce its first product for commercial deployment.
On the other hand, Strong by Form has also developed a 3-millimeter-thick panel that is intended for finishing purposes rather than a structural role. The company is working with train manufacturers to use its subtly wavy panels on train interiors, allowing them to reduce mass while softening the aesthetics of vehicle walls and ceilings.
“This allowed us to fund all our research and development.” [research and development] It’s the work that it takes to do the floor, and that’s what we really want to expand on. Because that’s where the impact is,” Mitnik said.
If you’d like to learn more about Strong by Form from the company itself, check out dozens of other companies, hear pitches, and hear from guest speakers on four different stages at Disrupt this week in San Francisco. Click here for more information.
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