Codification and research for mass timber buildings in selected seismic regions: An overview

Since the late 2000's, many countries around the world have experienced rising interest in mass timber construction in commercial and mixed-use building applications. Globally, wood design and research communities have invested heavily in research and development (R&D) to make mass timber viable for large scale, multi-story buildings, targeting commercial markets. Due to the difference in historical design/fabrication practices, local regulatory rules, and cultural differences, the status of mass timber codification and research development are not uniform throughout the world. In this paper, an overview of recent trends in manufacture, codification, and research on mass timber systems is provided. Specifically, this overview was divided into five distinct topics, namely mass timber material standards, mandatory building/design requirements, non-mandatory design guidelines, different approaches to lateral design, and notable mass timber research efforts in the recent decades. Due to the limitation of the authors' experience, only selected regions around the world are covered in this review.