Low cost construction: state of the art and prospects for using structure wood apartment buildings in Portugal

Abstract

The Low cost concept in buildings is normally associated with the construction of social housing. Today, with the economic crisis, this concept becomes increasingly important to all areas and in the different social hierarchies. Low cost architecture emerges as the demand to find economical constructive solutions, but still allowing good visual, hygrothermal and acoustic performances. Wood emerges as an excellent material able to achieve all these objectives. The ease decomposition and re-composition of prefabrication wood systems allow the flexibility of the building components, being capable of generating multiple combinatorial possibilities, customized and capable of responding to the users’ changing requests. This work aims to make a description of the evolution of the low cost concept within the industry of building construction, to provide a description of the state of the art and characterization of the potential of wood structures in multi-storey buildings, and place this type of structural solution in the “purposes” or objectives of the low cost construction.