Research proposal about ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - Essay Example

The various building materials that are involved in green design for sustainable architecture are growing substantially in an effort to look toward building environmentally conscious housing. As there are many aspects of sustainable architecture available within the green design guidelines, focus in this paper will on engineered structural materials. Engineered structural materials is defined as “recycled/reconstituted wood materials that employ laminated wood chips or strands and finger jointing (the gluing of larger pieces together)” (Sustainable Building Sourcebook, 2006).

The materials that formulate the structured materials fall under the category of engineered wood and as such it means that the “tolerances in stability, consistency, straightness and strength are more precise then dimensional lumber, making the products easier to work with. In joist and rafter applications, the reconstituted products are particularly useful for long spans without bowing or lateral movement” (Sustainable Building Sourcebook, 2006). When making these building materials look to drastically minimise the amount of waste that is created in processing the raw materials as waste wood and entire trees, regardless of their size, age or species can be utilised in making these products.

“Finger jointed studs reduce waste in two ways. Short pieces that normally would be unusable are combined rather than disposed and the engineered quality of finger jointed materials eliminate warping or cracking. The strength of the joints in good quality material is such that the solid wood portions will be more likely to break than the adhered finger joint” (Sustainable Building Sourcebook, 2006). The following graph outline both satisfactory and unsatisfactory or difficult in various circumstances of recycled/reconstituted wood and explain the ease of both finding satisfactory results in finding the technology and costs relatively low.

There is also the issue of both