“This is Me” shows wood construction can deal with safety issues

Two technical issues—seismic performance and fire-resistance—have tended to hold back larger wood building projects in Japan. A new mid-rise commercial building in Japan shows that both issues can be dealt with successfully.

“This is Me” is a five-storey commercial building constructed entirely of wood. To deal with seismic performance, the building uses a high-performance Midply Wood Shear Wall System made from Canadian S-P-F lumber and oriented strand board (OSB). The approach was developed in Vancouver by FPInnovations . Canada Wood Japan worked with Japanese officials to have the engineered building assembly certified under Japan’s Building Standards Law. With this certification, the Canadian Midply Wall System has now been used in more than 10,000 projects across Japan.

To achieve fire safety approvals, the building uses assemblies developed in partnership with the Japan 2x4 Home Builders Association. The approach was extensively tested by authorities before receiving fireproof approvals. Without these fireproof approvals, the project could not have been built.

The 592-square-metre building makes extensive use of Canadian 2x4 and 2x6 S-P-F dimension lumber.

With the resolution of the seismic and fireproofing issues, “This is Me” sends the powerful message “This is possible” to Japanese developers regarding wood use for mid-rise projects.