Within a building envelope, if you have water or termite ingress you're already hosed and a layer of paint or gypsum isn't going to save you. The cross-laminat

Within a building envelope, if you have water or termite ingress you're already hosed and a layer of paint or gypsum isn't going to save you. The cross-laminated timbers aren't going to be the first thing to rot. In a traditional wood framed building you're looking at the sill plates, the sheathing, perhaps the end of the joists. The high-rise construction shown in the article seems to avoid most of that - the SIPs don't appear to use much wood except the facade.