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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) develops an online resource for those interested in mass timber use in tall building construction. Thanks to a USDA Forest Service grant, the CTBUH aimed to explore the work and research regarding mass timber and its... View full entry
It appears to be a big week for student center design announcements: after Rice University revealed its pick of Adjaye Associates to replace the Rice Memorial Center in Houston with a three-story structure, now Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University presented renderings for the new Hopkins Student... 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
An innovative multi-family residential development has been proposed for West Vancouver’s Ambleside area, just steps from the waterfront.
A preliminary development application submitted by Delta Land Development and designed by Perkins + Will Architects calls for the redevelopment of 2204 Bellevue Avenue [...].
— Urbanized Vancouver
The proposed eight-story mass timber tower was designed by Perkins and Will for Delta Land Development and aims for Passive House sustainability standards, reports Urbanized Vancouver. One year ago, P+W made headlines with another wooden tower design proposal: Canada Earth Tower could rise up to... 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 Quayside project developed for the Toronto waterfront by Alphabet-backed Sidewalk Labs has been officially called off. In a Medium post announcing the death of the project, Sidewalk Labs CEO Daniel L. Doctoroff writes that the economic collapse that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic... 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
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
There is cross-laminated timber (CLT), which looks like inch-thick strips of heartwood arranged like a Jenga set to produce a block that is pretty much the definition of the word solid. Or glu-lam, used to make structural beams that are like extremely strong plywood, and LVL—laminated veneer lumber—which makes excellent heavy beams and had formed the skeleton of the apartment building. — National Geographic
Saul Elbein dives into the growing industry of mass timber and talks with architects, both abroad and in the U.S., that are already using the new materials to design buildings of today. Elbein also chats with those imaging cities of the future, full of "standardized, customizable, mid-rise... View full entry
The London-based architecture firm, PLP Architecture, recently won the international Delftseplein competition for its hybrid tower project known as "Tree House." The $177m (£137m/€160m) project will stand at 459 feet (140 meters) and will be constructed using mass timber and concrete... View full entry
Boston-based architecture practice Leers Weinzapfel Associates recently completed the construction of the 202,027-square-foot University of Arkansas Adohi Hall, noted to be the "first large-scale mass timber residence hall and living learning setting" as well as the "largest cross laminated timber... View full entry
The Pacific Northwest has become a region many architects and designers are drawn to thanks to its amazing nature, ever-growing tech economy, and its penchant for low-impact and sustainable design practices. Continuing from our regional Spotlight on Seattle coverage Archinect has curated... View full entry
Armed with €10m in EU funding, a consortium of 21 European companies and organisations has formed to try and make timber the material of choice for multi-storey buildings instead of steel and concrete.
Their aim over the next four years is to remove barriers to timber construction by developing standard, industrialised timber building systems, while documenting the environmental, economic and social benefits.
— Global Construction Review
The multinational, pan European innovation project, called Build-in-Wood, aims to "make wood the common choice of material for construction of multi-story buildings," reports Global Construction Review. "We’re not trying to create the world’s tallest wood building," project coordinator Niels... View full entry
Oregon State University (OSU) has opened a new 17,500-square-foot research and fabrication lab designed by Michael Green Architecture (MGA) dedicated to mass timber design, engineering, fabrication, and construction. The A.A. "Red" Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory, as the... View full entry
