Future perspectives about timber-hybrid systems: The role of connections

Timber is characterized by a very low carbon footprint, and it represents a true alternative to reduce the construction impact. The potential of using timber as structural material is even increased if a combination with concrete or steel elements is considered in the design. Such a system is defined as timberhybrid and may be adopted to overcome some issues related to full timber structures, like the low lateral stiffness. In a hybrid structure, components are arranged in sub-systems to resist gravity and lateral loads respectively. It is intuitive that detailing is crucial as the design of the elements themselves. The efficiency and the robustness of the system is, in fact, directly linked to the performances of the con-nections. Within this context, a literature review about timber-hybrid systems is presented focusing on the role of connections. In particular, various structural solutions from the literature are collected and discussed with emphasis on proposed solutions to fasten components made of different materials.