An accurate structural design is necessary to realise a timber construction in accordance with the best practice. Design must be performed considering the global behaviour of the structure but also taking in account properly the single connections.
Timber constructions are in general structurally analysed with dedicate software, but automatic calculation often is not sufficient to grant an appropriate modelling of the structure. A correct model requires a skilled contribution of the structural timber engineer so that the elements and the joints are defined in an appropriate way with good correspondence between model and real structure.
Often modelling made by generic structural engineers are not accurate because a a deep knowledge of timber is necessary. In that case results will appear perfect, but they will be not reliable. Details of connections shall be executed according to the model assumed so that what constructed will behave as predicted by theoretical calculations. Details in many cases make the difference between a well-designed structure and a bad one.
Construction details, in order to be well defined, shall respect not only codes prescriptions, but also complex evaluations proper of a correct assessment of the structural behaviour in the most severe conditions of load and humidity. The bbest performance of a timber structure under seismic conditions will be achieved only through a high-quality structural design.
Last but not least in this short list is Durability. It requires to avoid not appropriate exposition of timber to UV rays and rain or high humidity. An accurate design of details is necessary, especially to prevent excess of moisture content in timber elements. Also important for the global durability of the timber construction are the stratigraphy of the walls and roof packages. A correct disposition of the various layers of materials is the first requirement for a high-quality timber construction.
