In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to run a pilot program to support two tall wood demonstration projects in order to test the potential of the increasingly popular building material. The first was a 10-story residential tower in Chelsea designed by SHoP. The second, a 12-story high rise slated for downtown Portland's Pearl District that would've been the tallest building in the country to use cross-laminated timber.
The New York project was scrapped last year, made unfeasible by a cooled-off real estate market and regulations prohibiting wooden towers over six stories that would've required onerous finagling. The deal to build Oregon's record-setting wooden tower, though, was still moving forward.
Designed by the Portland-based firm LEVER Architecture, the project had received a promising amount of support and pledge of public dollars. Money from the USDA's Tall Wood Building award helped fund testing and research; the Portland Housing Bureau had promised $6 million in order to include 60 units of affordable housing; and another $19.5 million was lined up through government sources such as the federal low-income housing tax credit program. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was a vocal proponent of the project as were U.S. senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, who are looking at resuscitate Oregon's once vibrant timber industry.
Despite this support, both financial and moral, the Willamette Week has reported that the project has gotten the axe and an announcement on the project's website states that the building "has been placed on hold for the forseeable future." The project had been facing a $2 million funding gap, which was unable to be filled, and a statement from the developer project^ blames market challenges as the reason for not moving forward.
Generally speaking, CLT is considered to be cheaper than conventional steel and concrete. Framework's projected costs came out to whopping price tag of $651.43 per square foot, a factor that made the city's decision to push usage of affordable housing subsidies controversial. Costs of lumber have also spiked in the past year due to increased demand and tariffs imposed by the Trump government.
A lot of energy is going into, and will continue to go into, trying to make wood happen. Easy and quick to use, sustainable, and incredibly fire resistant, it is increasingly becoming a favored building material amongst those more forward thinking than many of our city's building codes. While the failure of both USDA projects to go forward is a major setback, taller and taller wooden buildings are sprouting up across the globe. Within the United States, a seven-story tower in Minneapolis by Michael Green Architecture will remain the largest mass-timber building in the U.S. for now.
Update: We have been notified by a PR firm for Framework that the Williamette Week misrepresented construction costs. The previous estimate for the project came out to $377/SF, not $651.43/SF.
the international house sydney by tzannes is a great example of a large, urban wood building where the glazed curtainwall unveils the beautiful timber structure underneath: https://archinect.com/news/bustler/6694/tzannes-design-for-the-international-house-sydney-reveals-the-unique-beauty-of-timber
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VE that custom facade for a traditional glazed curtainwall so that we can see the timber from the outside. Two million saved.
Someone should tell Trump that Mass Timber is built in a factory like Steel--- Steel Wood if you will.
Either way, I don't know why you can't mix steel and Mass Timber together--and why the design can't be better, like Shigeru Ban's hybrid steel-timber project in Vancouver.
the international house sydney by tzannes is a great example of a large, urban wood building where the glazed curtainwall unveils the beautiful timber structure underneath: https://archinect.com/news/bustler/6694/tzannes-design-for-the-international-house-sydney-reveals-the-unique-beauty-of-timber
a beauty
Holy cow, that's a beautiful building.
While the design is a little ho hum, the details are very interesting. Reminds me of
Violette LeDuc.
"...federal low-income housing tax credit program..."
Absurd. Waste. Of. Money.
I think in San Francisco a family of four qualifies for housing assistance at about $200,000 a year income.
This failed largely due to the "affordable" requirements that require bargain basement costs because, you know, it's for the poor. Just think of how much money could be made with superlux condos instead.
reminded me of this https://www.newsweek.com/luxury-brands-prefer-burn-millions-dollars-worth-clothes-over-letting-wrong-1032088
You guys are so serious. No one got the pun in "Wooden tower gets the Axe" - get it, get it?
The only thing more lame than that is you thinking that it's clever.
I thought you were going to write "cleaver"...
Hey now, let's not all get sappy about this
Miles, whats wrong with having some pun?
Post of the year... but nothing to pine over...
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