Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

The Skyscraper Museum continues its “Mass Timber Semester” lecture series, which brings together key voices in the Mass Timber movement to reflect on its short history, current condition, and promising future, with an IN-PERSON program at SOM’s lower Manhattan office at 7 World Trade Center. A decade ago, concerns about energy consumption in the building sector focused on operational carbon… Today, the discussion has shifted in part to embodied carbon, which can also be called “upfront carbon,” because it is carbon released into the atmosphere before the building even opens its doors. …While the concept of embodied carbon is still not widely understood by the public, it has a history in the architectural community that our program will explore. Longtime thought leaders David Lewis and Alan Organschi will discuss the role of research in both academic and professional practice in advancing ideas about low-embodied carbon materials, such as Mass Timber. 

Eight years after Baltimore-based Under Armour bought waterfront land for a new global headquarters, it has a move-in date! The first wave of corporate workers will relocate in November to a purpose-built, five-story building nearly complete and, importantly, two months ahead of schedule! The secret? A mass timber design that allowed crews to reduce bottlenecks and deliver the project at a rapid pace! …The 26,012 square metre building is made from cross-laminated timber as part of a wave of mass timber projects now sweeping the American South. Spearheaded by Gensler, it is setting new standards for combining cutting-edge design, sustainability, and efficient construction techniques. …However, the standout feature is its cross-laminated timber structure, an unusual material choice for such a high-profile project in the city. …While the project is one of the architect’s largest mass timber commissioned, Gensler has been involved in over 100 projects, representing millions of square metres.

WASHINGTON – This past weekend, the New York State Legislature concluded its session without passing the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. While the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) supports efforts to improve recycling, the legislation lacked provisions to ensure it would not negatively impact highly recycled materials like paper and paper-based packaging. We look forward to continuing discussions that ensure paper-based packaging recycling remains a viable and sustainable option for New Yorkers.

Concrete is perhaps the most commonly used building material in the world. With a bit of tweaking, it could help to power our homes too. On a laboratory bench in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a stack of polished cylinders of black-coloured concrete sit bathed in liquid and entwined in cables. To a casual observer, they aren’t doing much. But then Damian Stefaniuk flicks a switch. The blocks of human-made rock are wired up to an LED – and the bulb flickers into life. …Despite some new discoveries of lithium reserves, the finite supply of this material… has driven the search for alternative battery materials. This is where Stefaniuk and his concrete come in. He and his colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a way of creating an energy storage device known as a supercapacitor from three basic, cheap materials – water, cement and a soot-like substance called carbon black.

Colorado School of Mines professor Shiling Pei has had a busy year. His research is helping lead the way for a revolution in construction using strong, lightweight, renewable timber. “We submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to ask, ‘can we build a resilient, tall wood building in seismic regions made of mass timber?'” Pei explained. Pei, who received his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Colorado State University, was part of a group that made history in San Diego. Mass timber has been used in construction projects for roughly 30 years. The products are load-bearing components like columns, beams and panels. These are smaller pieces of wood that have multiple layers fastened with glue, dowels or nails. While it’s lighter weight than concrete or steel it’s just as strong.

JACKSON, Mississippi – The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) and the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA) hosted an inbound trade mission with timber buyers from the Dominican Republic, Great Britian, Mexico, Poland, Spain and Vietnam. Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson said, “Timber is the leading agricultural commodity in over half of the counties in the state, with a value of production of $1.48 billion in 2023.” …The 2024 trade delegation toured Rutland Lumber in Collins, Hood Industries in Silver Creek and REX Lumber in Brookhaven before attending the Mississippi Timber Products Showcase at the Mississippi Trade Mart. During a follow-up showcase, these international trade delegates held business to business meetings and visited with six Mississippi timber companies from around the state, including Hardwoods of America, Hood Industries, LandMAX Properties, REX Lumber, Rutland Lumber and Southeastern Timber Products.

WASHINGTON — The Structural Building Components Association (SBCA) in partnership with 84 Lumber and the National Framers Council, demonstrated the future of home construction at the Innovative Housing Showcase in Washington, D.C. , by building a two-story, 2,400-square-foot house on the National Mall in under eight hours. This impressive accomplishment showcases the efficiency and sustainability of modern offsite manufacturing techniques. 

They bedeviled ancient Greek navies and helped shipwreck Christopher Columbus… but until now, scientists have been unable to pinpoint exactly how shipworms—a family of mollusks—are able to cause such damage. A team of researchers, jointly led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Plymouth, along with collaborators from the University of Maine and UMass Chan Medical School, have discovered that a population of symbiotic microbes, living in an overlooked sub-organ of the gut called the “typhlosole,” have the ability to secrete the enzymes needed to digest lignin—the toughest part of wood. …Not only does this research help to solve a longstanding mystery, but the findings may also have important practical application. Biotech companies are searching for new enzymes that can digest recalcitrant substrates more efficiently than current bio-industrial processes allow, and new sources of enzymes that can open the structure of biomass residues are very important in growing this field.

A Maine manufacturer has inked a deal to expand the distribution of its wood-fiber insulation across North America. TimberHP announced recently that it signed a deal with CertainTeed Inc., a subsidiary of the French multinational firm Saint-Gobain. “It is a huge vote of confidence in our technology and our team at TimberHP to partner with a brand as innovative and impactful as CertainTeed,” said Joshua Henry, chief executive officer of TimberHP, which he founded with Matthew O’Malia. …TimberHP, a subsidiary of Belfast-based GO Labs, is the first U.S. company to manufacture wood-fiber insulation, a construction product long popular in Europe. …TimberHP began producing blown-in insulation last summer and is rolling out board and batten-type insulation this year. The Finance Authority of Maine and Maine Rural Development Authority recently awarded TimberHP $1 million in loans to support an expansion.

FORSYTH, Georgia — The Georgia Forestry Foundation (GFF), in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and the Softwood Lumber Board, recently announced that it is accepting applications for the Georgia Mass Timber Accelerator. …Up to six (6) selected teams will be awarded a $25,000 grant and a suite of expert technical assistance to support the advancement of the project, including: design and planning, carbon assessment and cost-benefit analysis. The Accelerator will support the growth of sustainable development in Georgia by increasing utilization and awareness of mass timber—an innovative building material that both stores carbon and reduces GHG emissions by 60 percent when compared to traditional building materials, according to analysis from Oregon State University. … Selected projects will receive technical assistance from staff experts from WoodWorks, a nationally renowned non-profit committed to the advancement of sustainable materials and construction efficiency.