Nail Plate Truss Use Increasing in Post & Beam
In an encouraging trend, we have seen an increase in nail plate truss use in post and beam non-residential construction in Japan. On a recent trip to Hokkaido, Tokyo based staff had the opportunity to visit two post beam buildings with a Japan Wood Truss Council (JWTC) member that uniquely incorporated exposed roof trusses in a church in Sapporo City and vocational school and Chitose City.
Catholic Macromania Church (Sapporo, Hokkaido)
The first project, the Catholic Macromania Church with a total floor area for the church of 499 m² was constructed using parallel cord trusses made with SPF dimension lumber divided into two sections for ease of transportation and then joined with bolts and installed on site to design a beautiful cathedral wood roof spanning 11.6 m for its parishioners.
http://www.jwtc.org/examples/case26/index.html
Chitose Aviation Academy (Chitose, Hokkaido)
The second project being the Chitose Aviation Academy, which is a large-scale wooden building with a floor area of 986 m². In order to construct this large vocational school, low pitched mono nail plate trusses were used and revealed to construct the school’s 25.8 m spanning roof – proudly display the warmth and beauty of Canadian wood for students to see.
http://www.jwtc.org/examples/case27/index.html
Both these post and beam buildings were designed and constructed by Arch Vision 21 Inc. Based in Chitose, the company designs and builds residential and commercial buildings in the region. COFI has been working with this company for more than ten years promoting SPF dimension lumber and truss use in post and beam construction, and it is great to see them increasing the number and different types of non-residential buildings in the region.