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Matt Erasmus construction practices in the country.
Thus, three historical periods are defined with the objective
of evaluating the MI of wood in the case study: pre-1900
systems, those from the 20th century, and those from after

the year 2000.
It is important to note that while the real estate registry
includes heritage structures dating back to the 17th century,
most of the recorded built surface area is concentrated in
the second half of the 20th century and the first decades of
the 21st century.
Additionally, an unknown number of historical wooden
difficult to assess over time and to keep a consistent record constructions in Santiago have been affected by fires,
of. Conversely, structural materials tend to exhibit fewer earthquakes, or have simply been replaced by masonry and

changes over time and remain throughout the entire lifespan reinforced concrete structures.
of a building. To facilitate the analysis of a large number of wooden
Since it is impractical to conduct an MI analysis of wood for architectures represented in the real estate record and to
every building in the case study, an assumed MI is proposed generate representative wood volumes for construction systems
for different types of wooden construction systems. This is and historical periods, two typical wooden walls and two
achieved by defining typical wooden walls and roofs linked typical roofs are defined for analysis.
to historical periods of construction in the country. These typologies assume building heights not exceeding

Maximum and minimum MI indicators are proposed for three stories, in line with data collected by the INE in its
the wood used in these structural elements. Considering that building permit records. This approach is also consistent with
structural elements are the least likely to change over time research conducted in Finland and other Northern European
and that the Chilean real estate registry primarily records countries, which attribute nearly the entirety of wood MI in
load-bearing wall structures and their modifications, the focus low-rise framed buildings to the walls and roof structures.
remains on these aspects. For the walls, a small wall of 2,400 mm in length and
This study centres exclusively on typical construction systems a larger one of 7,200 mm is defined, with a height set at
based on sawn wood, acknowledging that this is the primary 2,400 mm. Although historical architecture often features taller
material used for the construction of such buildings in Chile. ceilings than those found in constructions from the second

Engineered wood products, such as laminated timber, only half of the 20th century and the 21st century, due to variability
gained significant market presence during the last decade of depending on the project, a uniform and more conservative
the 20th century—the first laminated structure is presumed to height of 2,400 mm is used for all wall types regardless of
date from 1969, OSB products emerged in the early 2000s, the historical period.
and mass timber products like CLT only began to be used Furthermore, to determine the volume of wood in walls
in the 2020s. per square metre of built structure, the wall density data from
While these products and construction systems may have the floor plan are utilised. According to the literature, wooden

higher MI values than frame-based systems, they are much structures should have a wall density in the floor plan between
less common and not representative of the historical wood three percent and six percent, values that are higher than