Canada Wood’s First NLT Project in Jinju Wins the 2021 Korea Wood Design Top Award
The Jinju Community Centre, Canada Wood’s first Nail-laminated Timber (NLT) Demonstration project in South Korea, has won the grand prize at the 2021 Korea Wood Design Awards. The award recognizes the project for integrating the exposed NLT system into the structure to lend it a pleasing and warming interior ambiance, in the process maximizing floor space, and minimizing the project’s environmental footprint. The Awards, hosted by the Korea Wood Construction Association and sponsored by the Korea Forest Service, commenced in 2003 and aims to support innovation and celebrate excellence in wood building and design in South Korea.
The application of NLT in the Jinju Community Centre resulted from an MOU between Jinju Municipality and Canada Wood Korea in 2020. Canada Wood provided technical support to the design, manufacturing and installation of the NLT panels. The community center will become an important hub providing recreational, healthcare and educational services to local residents.
Canada Wood promotes NLT in Korea as a viable substitute for concrete slabs, steel decking and CLT panels due to its easy fabrication, cost competitiveness and large consumption of Canadian dimensional lumber. The potential for NLT in the non-residential sector in Korea is significant. As part of its investment in local infrastructure, the Jinju government plans to build ten more similar community facilities across the region. NLT is considered a competitive option.
The success of this first NLT demonstration creates a bright future for Canadian wood use in Korea’s non-residential sector.
