The medium-scale Jatobá building is primarily structured by a system of glulam beams, which transfer loads to glulam columns, to selected CLT façade walls, and to the concrete vertical core. All floor slabs are made of CLT. Lateral bracing in the shorter direction is provided by four main subsystems: two located on the lateral façades (composed of CLT panels and glulam beams) and two located within the building, arranged in a V-shaped configuration and connected to the trapezoidal concrete core. In the other direction, stability is ensured by the CLT façades and the concrete core. The V-shaped subsystems establish a direct correlation between the structural concept and the architectural design, which features a volumetric subtraction within the area they define on the top two floors.
DORMF + STRELKA
This proposal presents three multifamily building projects with significant use of engineered timber structural systems, along with a possible configuration of a typical urban block, also incorporating commercial and community-oriented activities.
The project seeks balance and beauty within the urban fabric, grounded in the appreciation of active streets intensively occupied by pedestrians, which encourage spontaneous encounters and multiple forms of social interaction. The proposal is based on relatively small, porous blocks interwoven with avant-garde architecture. It explores the interiority of the blocks, offering alternative paths that are faster, quieter, and more bucolic, complementing the peripheral sidewalks, which are richly populated with shops and restaurants. A low, linear building connects the residential volumes, helping to shape legible spaces within the block while simultaneously providing areas for commercial and community activities, understood here as essential complements to housing. Above these, residents benefit from generous communal terraces for sunbathing and social interaction. Vegetation plays an important role, not merely as a decorative element, but as an integral part of the landscape, without overshadowing the fundamentally urban and active character of the proposal.
Regarding the architecture, the project respects the plasticity and specific material qualities of each building, defining their expressiveness through subtle manipulations in the arrangement of façade elements. The floor plans are inherently flexible, employing façades not only as systems for daylighting, ventilation, and thermal and acoustic insulation—taking advantage of the excellent thermal properties of CLT—but also as integral components of the structural system, particularly in providing lateral bracing. Façades are also used to accommodate storage, work surfaces, and kitchen counters. The external CLT panels are protected by waterproof membranes and cladding, ensuring greater durability. Wet areas are arranged linearly, rationalizing construction and allowing for expansive free zones dedicated to the primary living spaces of the apartments. This approach ensures flexibility not only for changes in unit layouts, but also for the reorganization of entire floors if necessary, enabling the buildings to accommodate changes of use over a much longer lifespan.
The three proposed buildings prioritize the use of solid timber structural systems, particularly glued laminated timber (glulam) and cross-laminated timber (CLT). External CLT walls are protected with waterproof membranes and clad with sawn timber slats, treated with natural preservatives or using the shou sugi ban technique, which enhances material durability through surface charring. In addition to their thermal and acoustic performance, these walls also contribute, in some cases, to the lateral bracing of the buildings.
All timber elements are protected from rising damp through reinforced concrete foundations and metal connections, which are not detailed at this stage of the project. Non-structural internal partitions are composed of lightweight enclosure systems, framed with sawn timber or LVL studs, incorporating thermal and acoustic insulation and finished with OSB panels and gypsum boards, reinforcing the proposed architectural flexibility.
Vertical circulation cores are concentrated in reinforced concrete shafts, ensuring protected means of egress against the spread of fire. Although solid timber exhibits good structural performance under fire conditions due to the formation of a char layer that preserves its load-bearing core (Pinto, 2001), its combustibility justifies the adoption of these concrete cores, which also make a significant contribution to the lateral stability of the buildings.
