A Holistic Approach to Mass Timber Design

As a new material, there is a significant lack of knowledge of the performance of mass timber, especially in fire. This research investigated the current understanding of modern mass timber, the performance of heritage mass timber, and the state of diversity of the industry itself. Findings include heritage hardwoods typically charred at a higher rate than the heritage softwoods but the species converged at a rate of 1.05 mm/min when exposed to 50 kW/m². Gender distributions of the survey (16% women, 81.7% men) mirrored industry statistics. It was also found that 71.4% of the women were ages 44 and under compared to 39.1% for men. The findings of this thesis can be used to further the design of mass timber structures and direct where future research for mass timber is needed most.