SY Design Group

8½ Storeyed (Tarmwe Township)
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Technological University Building Recreation Center Wave

massive arched roof of Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) new sports hall has taken shape - without a supporting pillar or scaffolding in sight.

conventional buildings, these structural beams are not steel - but specially engineered wood.

of wood are glued together to form glued laminated timber, or glulam, which is much lighter than steel. This allows for a design that does not need supporting pillars.

also speeds up construction. The roof took 3½ weeks to assemble, compared to three months if conventional methods had been used.

The seven roof beams are each composed of 36m-long halves of glulam manufactured in Austria and shipped here. Each half is secured to its respective wall, then hoisted up and secured at the top of the arch, to form the full 72m beam.

Besides glulam, the hall also uses cross-laminated timber. It involves sticking layers of timber together at right angles, to produce solid panels.

The sports hall is the first building in South-east Asia to use engineered wood on such a large scale.

requiring less time and manpower to assemble, engineered wood is also more eco-friendly. It takes 60 times more energy to manufacture 1kg of steel, compared to making 1kg of engineered timber.