Post-war Mass Timber Era

Can Mass Timber Be the Hidden Solution For Post-war Rebuilding?

A Study of War-torn City of Aleppo, Syria

Abstract:

While the first world countries and the northern hemisphere live in relative peace for the past 75 years, conflicts in the middle east have been on the rise for over 3 decades now. With the beginning of the Arab Spring, many wars broke out for many reasons. Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and the ongoing destruction of the besieged Gaza Strip in Palestine.

Today’s war news is not exclusively about the middle east anymore, with Ukraine being under attack at this moment, the urgent call for a clean regenerative and renewable source of construction material has never been louder. We, more than ever need to think of the serious employment of mass timber not only as the main construction material in the day-to-day projects, but also as a solution for rebuilding destroyed areas and cities post-war.

All indications of our new world are pointing at an age of cyber, technological warfare. After World War II and the technologies on the rise, the shape of war that included actual weaponry, tanks, fighter-jets, soldiers on the ground and mass destructions was disappearing, giving way to a modern warfare of cyber political influence and system bugging but actual war is not going anywhere. City-destroying wars are in our midst.

This paper is aimed not to only put the question on the table but also examine, in facts and numbers the possibility of employing mass timber in post-war rebuilding. This study will focus on the City of Aleppo, Syria post-war, examining the amount of destruction resulted from the war and imagining the rebuilding of its urban fabric using mass timber. The study will also calculate the amount of wood needed for this experiment and the amount of carbon sequestered in comparison with the carbon emissions needed for the manufacturing and transportation of the materials. Can mass timber be the unfound solution for post-war rebuilding?

Keywords: #rebuilding #war #postwar #carbon #sequestration #emissions #syria #aleppo #green #clean #construction

Post-war Mass Timber Era is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at MMTD, Master in Mass Timber Design in 2021/2022by Student: Soubhi Mobassaleh. Faculty: Daniel Ibanez. Course: Narative 2