Building with Wood: From Material Advancements to High-Performance Structural Design
A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 826
Special Issue Editors
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
3. School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
Interests: timber structures; seismic performance; fire performance; advanced numerical modelling; hybrid simulation; manufacturing process modelling and optimization
Interests: wood structures; FRP structures
Interests: structural and fire safety engineering; thermo-mechanical analysis; multiphysics and multiscale modelling; finite element simulation; material degradation under fire; computational mechanics of materials and structures; development and application of multiscale and multiphysics models for timber and timber structures
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Wood has re‑emerged as a leading construction material in the global transition toward sustainable, low‑carbon, and high‑performance built environments. Rapid advancements in engineered wood products, material modification technologies, innovative timber connections, emerging structural systems, digital fabrication, and performance‑based structural design have expanded the scope of timber applications—from low residential buildings to advanced prefabricated assemblies, long‑span systems, and emerging high‑rise timber towers. At the same time, innovations in modeling, testing, digital workflows, and performance evaluation have deepened our understanding of timber structural behavior under diverse mechanical, environmental, and multi‑hazard conditions.
This Special Issue, “Building with Wood: From Material Advancements to High-Performance Structural Design,” highlights research that advances both material science and structural engineering. We welcome studies exploring how innovations in material properties, connection technologies, hybrid and new structural systems, modeling and testing capabilities, digital tools, and performance criteria can enable safe, efficient, and resilient timber construction.
Topics of interest include:
- Advances in engineered wood products, material modification technologies, innovative timber connections, and emerging structural systems
- Mechanical, fire, moisture, and long‑term performance
- Experimental and numerical modeling, including hybrid simulation/testing
- Design strategies for mass timber buildings, hybrid systems, and performance‑based design
- Multi‑hazard performance and resilience, including seismic, wind, and fire behavior
- Digital twins and Building Information Modeling (BIM) for construction, operation, monitoring, and integrated digital workflows
- Innovative fabrication, construction, and monitoring techniques, including robotics, automation, and advanced prefabrication
- Sustainability, life‑cycle assessment, and carbon performance of timber buildings
We particularly encourage submissions that integrate material‑level insights with structural engineering practice; develop new modeling frameworks, analytical methods, digital twins, or design tools; introduce or evaluate innovative timber products, components, connection systems, or structural systems; connect laboratory research with real‑world applications through digital construction workflows, monitoring strategies, field‑validated performance, and case studies; and provide comprehensive literature reviews that synthesize recent developments and identify future research needs across material, structural, and digital domains.
By bringing together contributions from material scientists, structural engineers, architects, and interdisciplinary researchers, this Special Issue aims to support the continued evolution of timber as a high‑performance, climate‑resilient, and scalable construction solution.
Sincerely,
Dr. Zhiyong Chen
Dr. Huazhang Zhou
Dr. Juan Carlos Pina
Dr. Christian Viau
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- mass timber
- timber connections
- structural systems
- hybrid simulation
- performance-based design
- digital twins
- building information modelling (BIM)
- prefabrication and automation
- multi-hazard resilience
- sustainability and life-cycle assessment
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