Hybrid Steel & Timber Systems

The 2018 International Mass Timber Conference was produced by Forest Business Network and WoodWorks.

Video Sponsors Include: Forest Business Network, Katerra, Think Wood, and Oregon Forest Resources Institute

Hybrid Steel & Timber Systems — Benton Johnson, Pe Se, Associate Director, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Challenging structural engineering problems are often solved with a hybrid solutions that mix materials such as steel and mass-timber. Structural steel and mass timber are often combined in hybrid solutions since both materials are prefabricated, precise, and lightweight. This session will review two hybrid structural systems consisting of structural steel and mass timber.

The first portion of the presentation will be a case study of the Long Beach Civic Center Library. That project has a lightweight steel and timber system so that existing foundations on site could be reused. The timber framing provides the typical floor supports and the structural steel provides the resistance to seismic loads. The second portion of the presentation will review SOM’s recently released research study on steel and timber systems for high-rise residential buildings. The proposed system in that research is a structural steel frame that supports a steel and timber “flat plate” floor system which could be competitive in the high-rise residential market.