Building tall with timber: A paean to wood construction

It may seem strange at first to propose that timber be used for the structural system of mid-rise buildings. Steel and concrete have held that position so long that the question of wood as an alternative for large-scale multi-storey construction would strike many people as archaic and impractical, but until the modern age, this was the case. The following essay highlights some interesting examples in history, concluding with the 17 blimp hangers constructed in the USA during World War II when steel was in short supply. Each of these structures was a third of a kilometer in length and equivalent in height to a 17 storey building, containing a single, column-free room.