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A 5-story, 122,000 office and retail building, set to be one of the largest Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) buildings in Los Angeles, is taking shape. For 843 N Spring Street, this month continues the installation of what will be 82,000 square feet of CLT panels in the hybrid timber structure... View full entry
A new Swedish tower is pushing boundaries for mass timber design in an effort to create a “public living room” for one small city just south of the Arctic Circle. The Sara Cultural Centre is the second tallest wooden building in any Scandinavian country and the third tallest in the world... View full entry
KPF has released details of the studio’s first mass timber tower, situated in Vancouver, Canada. At 16 stories tall, the Burrard Exchange tower is expected to be one of the tallest hybrid mass timber buildings in North America, providing 450,000 square feet of office and retail space within the... View full entry
LMN Architects’ mass timber structure for Founders Hall at the University of Washington Foster School of Business has topped out. The 85,000-square-foot structure, expected to be completed in the summer of 2022, frames the northeast edge of the school’s historic Denny Yard, an open space at... View full entry
A former shopping center near downtown Los Angeles is getting a makeover thanks to an innovative new design that promises to take CLT building to brand new levels. LEVER Architecture is bringing mass timber construction to LA's Chinatown with a sizeable new office building that will add four new... View full entry
Portland-based LEVER Architecture is known for its work with material innovation, specifically cross-laminated timber (CLT) and mass timber construction. Founded by Thomas Robinson in 2009, the practice has received much notoriety and was recognized as one of the Architectural League of... View full entry
It’s easy to imagine CLT becoming the next luxury building trend to invade the skylines of rapidly gentrifying cities, giving an eco-friendly excuse for remaking the city in service of maximized profit. [...]
In order for mass timber to truly engage with the regenerative power of forests to help alleviate our current climate predicament, it must be linked to a greater movement towards ecological reformation at all scales.
— Failed Architecture
In his latest piece for Failed Architecture, writer and architect Alexander Hadley takes a critical look at the future economical and environmental impact of the accelerating cross-laminated timber boom. "Building from regenerative materials like trees instead of intensively extracted substances... View full entry
Mitsui Fudosan and Takenaka Corporation are planning to build a 17-story wood-frame office tower in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district. With a proposed height of 70 meters, this would be the tallest wooden building in Japan. — Japan Property Central
Related: A much taller, 70-story wood-framed skyscraper was proposed by Sumitomo Forestry and Nikken Sekkei in 2018 to be built in Tokyo's Marunouchi business district by the year 2041. View full entry
The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) has adopted a series of new code regulations that pave the way for the state to begin to implement the widespread construction of tall mass timber buildings. In late August, the CBSC moved to advance the adoption of recommendations... View full entry
New York City-based SHoP Architects and Australian technology company Atlassian have unveiled plans for a 40-story tall timber and steel tower slated for a new business-technology district in Sydney, Australia. The 280-foot tower will be wrapped with a diagrid steel tube and staggered... View full entry
After the original Tungestølen Tourist Cabin was destroyed by Cyclone Dagmar, a devastating windstorm that swept over Norway on Christmas 2011, glacier hikers lost a treasured destination. Luster Turlag, a local branch of the Norwegian National Trekking Association, and a small local... View full entry
Despite the fact that mass timber testing has consistently shown that the material performs better than required in fire and structural situations, the government of the United Kingdom is considering imposing new height limitations for mass timber structures in the aftermath of the Grenfell... View full entry
The recent recipients of the 2020 Pritzker Prize, Grafton Architects, have been chosen by the University of Arkansas to partner with Modus Studio to design the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation. Founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are... View full entry
In winter 2021, Boston is expecting Model-C, its first ground-up full Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Passive House demonstration project. Designed and developed by Generate, an architectural tech company, and Placetailor, a leading sustainable housing developer, Model-C replaces the... View full entry
The government of France is set to require that all new public buildings must be made at least 50% from wood or other sustainable materials from 2022 as it pushes for sustainable urban development.
The local government in Paris had already pledged a greater use of natural materials such as wood, straw and hemp, and any buildings higher than eight storeys built for the 2024 Paris Olympics must be made entirely of timber.
— Global Construction Review
As part of President Emmanuel Macron's climate action plan, a new measure announced by the country's Minister for Towns and Housing Julien Denormandie requires all new public buildings financed by the French State to contain at least 50% wood or other organic material, such as straw or hemp, by... View full entry