gotcha, my bad for misconstruing your point. joint strength relative to span strength is definitely a non-obvious issue to the average home owner-builder.
i also vastly prefer wood/mass timber for aesthetic reasons. mass timber has better burn characteristics than steel, and i'd recently read that builders are actually starting to surround steel columns with cross-laminated timber (rather than concrete) for that reason[0], while providing greater strength/flexibility and better aesthetics. that's probably what i'd want if money were no object.
p.s. - i've also daydreamed about building warehouse style: a separate steel superstructure for the roof integrating solar panels and solar heating, with a simple stick-built house underneath.
Not sure if this is a regional / language difference, but I've more commonly seen it called "engineered wood" [0]. Which apparently now also includes transparent(?!) wood composite [1].
my impression is that 'engineered wood' is a slightly different aggregation than 'mass timber', with engineered wood including things like plywood, while mass timber is focused on the 'timber' aspect (more structurally focused, usually larger).
i also vastly prefer wood/mass timber for aesthetic reasons. mass timber has better burn characteristics than steel, and i'd recently read that builders are actually starting to surround steel columns with cross-laminated timber (rather than concrete) for that reason[0], while providing greater strength/flexibility and better aesthetics. that's probably what i'd want if money were no object.
[0]: mentioned in this article, but i'd read more about it elsewhere: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/1/15/2105805...
p.s. - i've also daydreamed about building warehouse style: a separate steel superstructure for the roof integrating solar panels and solar heating, with a simple stick-built house underneath.