Not a very convincing article. The fact that mass timber uses more wood is right there in the name. Everyone knows this. The point is you get a better building. The cavities in a wood-framed building cause all manner of problems with respect to heat, draft, cold, damp, and noise. Filling the cavity with solid wood variously solves such problems.
All the stuff about the capital cost of making laminated wood is irrelevant. Only the marginal cost of the assembly matters.
Mass timber isn’t meant to replace stick built buildings that are 5 stories or less, it’s meant to replace reinforced concrete for buildings over 5 stories, up to around ~25 stories [0]
I suppose there are certain locations (Bay Area, for one) where the property values are high enough to include 5x the cost for framing and still net a nice profit, but a ‘typical’ developer maximizing their margins will almost inevitably stick build a 5-over-1 due to cost savings.
> Filling the cavity with solid wood variously solves such problems.
Solves some problems, sure, but not heat/cold. Wood has just over a third the R-value of fiberglass batting, IIRC. Better to increase the cavity size and uncouple the inner and outer studs.
All the stuff about the capital cost of making laminated wood is irrelevant. Only the marginal cost of the assembly matters.