Recent architectural trends include the design and construction of increasingly tall buildings with structural components comprised of laminated wood.
These components are referred to by names including: cross-laminated timber, laminated-strand lumber or glued laminated timber (glulam). These buildings are cited for their advantages in sustainability resulting from the use of wood as a renewable construction material. Claims have been made that they are actually designed to be safer than buildings fabricated using structural steel due to the formation of an insulating char layer that forms on the perimeter of a laminated wood beam when exposed to a fire.