SYNERGY STRUCTURES combine the best features of two dynamic building systems: Timber-Framing and Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). Timber-framing captures craftsmanship usually unobtainable in contemporary construction. Large timber components; hand finished and connected by mortise-and-tenon joinery, provide a beauty and a sense of strength unparalleled in today mass-produced world.
Typically timber-frames are enclosed by curtain walls of Structural Insulated Panels, highly energy efficient sandwhiches of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and Expanded Polystyrene (EPS). The SIPs typically provide no structural value; the gravity load and wind resistance that all structures must address are satisfied by the timber structure. But the SIPs are amazingly strong structural compnents in their own right. When used as structural components they can reduce the timber content, and cost, in a timber-frame home.