Portable pavilion showcases Alabama resources for construction materials

When the three little pigs built houses of straw, sticks and brick, only the brick house stood up to the Big Bad Wolf. But did that classic fable get it wrong?

One group of Auburn University researchers thinks so, and now, they're showing how nature — in the way of Alabama's grasslands and forests — might actually provide a superior building material while also generating new revenue streams for the state.

A team of faculty members and students from the Colleges of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC) and Forestry, Wildlife and Environment (CFWE) have created a mobile showroom to illustrate how bio-based materials grown right here in Alabama can be used to build healthier and more resilient homes.

With funding from HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, they are building a portable pavilion showcasing the bio-based materials that can be produced in Alabama, potentially creating new jobs and new manufacturing opportunities.

Led by Assistant Professor David Shanks, fourth- and fifth-year architecture students designed the trailer.

The trailer illustrates traditional building materials, shown in the first column, and biobased alternatives.

This past fall, building science students built the trailer’s walls, after first crafting CLT panels by hand.

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At 14 feet tall and 18 feet long, the massive trailer’s interior is divided into five sections; one shows the building materials used on a traditional home, while the other four illustrate different bio-based materials in the following areas:

• Frame: The traditional material is wood stick framing; The bio-based alternative is cross-laminated timber (CLT) created from Southern yellow pine.

• Roof: The traditional material is asphalt shingles; Bio-based alternatives include cedar shingles, wood plastic composite and hemp fiber composite.

• Siding: The traditional material is vinyl siding: Bio-based alternatives include thermally modified wood, rice husk composite and hempcrete, a lightweight material made from the core of hemp plants.

• Insulation: The traditional material is urethane spay foam; Bio-based alternatives include wood fiber, hemp wool and lignin foam, a by-product of the wood pulping process.

• Flooring: The traditional material is vinyl plank; Bio-based alternatives include reclaimed hardwood, hemp wood and marmoleum, a linoleum made of natural materials that include flaxseed oil, jute and limestone.

Last spring, fourth- and fifth-year architecture students, led by Assistant Professor David Shanks, developed the design for the trailer. Shanks then turned the designs over to faculty members Paul Holley and Alan Bugg, who are coordinating a group of students building the pavilion as part of their coursework in the McWhorter School of Building Science.

This past fall, the students built the trailer’s walls, first crafting CLT panels by hand using the Auburn Mass Timber Collaborative’s CLT press, which is housed in CADC’s Research Commons, and then using the panels to build the four bio-based materials quadrants. Bugg said the hands-on experience of working with CLT will give those students a leg up in the ever-evolving construction industry.

“Construction is constantly changing, and this is the wave of the future,” he said. “I tell people all the time, here in the South, pine trees are a crop like any other crop; they grow fast, we cut them down, they plant them again. This is something that will be more sustainable for the future.”

After the students finish their work this spring, the pavilion will travel the state, showing  architects, engineers, builders and consumers the potential uses for bio-based materials — and the economic boon that would come with them.

“Bio-based construction materials utilizing local Alabama resources offer tremendous potential for rural economic development within the state,” said Shanks. “The material innovations currently being developed at Auburn and HudsonAlpha demonstrate to the architecture, engineering and construction industries how we can work together to create a healthier and more sustainable built environment.”

In addition to traveling the state, the trailer will serve as a proof of concept for the BRIDGES proposal, a plan for using bio-based materials to create regional growth developed by a team of researchers from Auburn, HudsonAlpha and the University of Tennessee. The partnership’s proposal is one of 15 that remain under consideration by the National Science Foundation for awards potentially totaling $160 million per funded project.