Modern Industrial Café – Truganina
glue-laminated timber (GLT) portal in a modern café
GLT Installation time: 1 month
Radiata Pine GL24c 12,600MOE
Vaughan Constructions collaborated closely with Vicbeam to create a standout feature in the project: a 305m² architecturally designed café, built using an impressive glue-laminated timber (GLT) structure. The café includes a commercial kitchen, office spaces, integrated outdoor seating, and an artwork wall commissioned by a local artist, making it a unique and functional addition to the estate.
The use of GLT timber in the café’s construction is a key highlight. GLT is a highly durable and sustainable engineered timber product, made by bonding layers of wood together with strong adhesives. This process results in a structural material that can support significant loads while maintaining a light and aesthetically pleasing appearance. In this project, GLT timber is used for the café’s portal frames, providing vital structural support for the roof and walls. These frames are not only visually striking but also functional, enhancing the café’s architectural appeal while ensuring long-term stability.
GLT timber portal frames offer numerous advantages, including design flexibility, ease of construction, and improved environmental sustainability. The engineered nature of GLT allows for larger spans and more intricate shapes compared to traditional solid wood framing, making it ideal for modern architectural designs. Additionally, using timber as a primary building material contributes to carbon sequestration, reducing the project’s overall environmental footprint.
The design of the MidWest Logistics Hub Estate café showcases how modern construction techniques, such as GLT timber portal frames, can be combined with sustainable materials to create a functional, visually appealing space that aligns with environmental considerations.
Engineer, Nick Hewson said “Timber portal frames offer a viable alternative to steel frames for industrial buildings. Not only are their aesthetic benefits, but the embodied carbon in the timber is often a far more cost-effective measure in achieving sustainability benchmarks for high-aspirational clients. Additionally, he highlighted, “The building envelope was unusually arranged and the portal frame had to span both internal and external environments. Timber is a far less thermally conductive material than steel and achieved this easily, reducing the risk of potential condensation issues that may have been seen with a steel structure.”
