Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

ORONO — University of Maine scientists think they have a groundbreaking solution to the lack of affordable housing: small homes made with wood fiber using a giant 3D-printer.  Home to the world’s largest polymer 3D printer, the university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center is developing robotic and artificial intelligence technology to automate construction, which they predict will be faster and less costly than traditional stick-built construction.  The center, which has received $30 million in federal funding and $15 million in state funding, works around the construction industry’s material and labor shortages. The researchers are utilizing Maine wood residuals – which could be scrap lumber, sawdust, construction debris – in the 3D printing process, sidestepping the increased costs of traditional construction materials caused by supply chain disruptions. The center’s founding executive director Habib Dagher calls it “solving a problem using a Maine solution.”

A multifamily building providing affordable housing in Denver, Colorado, is one of the six winning projects in the Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) and USDA Forest Service (USDA) 2022 Mass Timber Competition. Denver-based Tres Birds, the firm behind the project, will share the prize money of $2 million among the winners. The competition was tough, including nearly 60 submissions demonstrating domestically sourced and manufactured mass timber’s innovative applications in architectural design and highlighting its significant role in reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment. “It’s a great honor to be recognized by the Mass Timber Competition,” said Michael M. Moore, principal and founder of Tres Birds. “We are dedicated to creating a low carbon footprint for all our projects and utilizing mass timber is one way we can strive to achieve net zero buildings for our clients.” 

Peter McKeith

ARKANSAS — A fairly clear line can be drawn from work being done at the U of Arkansas to the decision to utilize this wood technology by the world’s largest retailer. The U of A has been at the forefront of advocacy of mass timber and wood products, as well as architectural and construction design education emphasizing mass timber, for nearly a decade. Faculty have argued that it presents the best path to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future, with the added ability to boost the Arkansas economy. Walmart’s decision to use CLT is an emphatic next step in a much larger, more expansive vision of a greener future for Arkansas and beyond. …The university’s first foray into mass timber design and construction was also its first big success: the University Libraries’ high-density storage annex, where less frequently requested books are stored south of the main campus.

Mass timber is certainly having its moment. From the Pacific Northwest to New England, the material is being used for projects of ever greater scale and complexity. Within this growing ecosystem of timber projects, New York, one of the largest construction markets in the country, remains something of an anomaly. However, the winds of change are blowing, and projects such as the recently completed Timber House, in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, portend the growing application of the material across New York City.  …The 27,000-square-foot mid-block condo building rises six-stories and features a glue-laminated timber (glulam) post-and-beam structural system and floor plates. The timber systems are supplemented by lot-line walls and structure core built of concrete masonry. It is the largest mass timber building built in New York City to date.

A historic milestone in the use of mass timber as a construction material is about to be passed as Korb + Associates Architects’ aptly-named Ascent tower is finally set to open tomorrow, July 15, in Milwaukee. Standing 25 stories and a total of 86.6 meters, the tower is now officially the world record holder for the largest mass timber structure in the world, surpassing Norway’s Mjøsa Tower by a scant 1.2 meters (or roughly 4 feet). It cost $80 million to construct and will provide … 259 apartment units built in partnership with structural engineers Thornton Tomasetti. Ascent is now Milwaukee’s second mass timber residential development after the nearby Timber Lofts and will soon be joined by a 15-story design called The Edison, opening next year. …Mass timber may become one of the most important factors in meeting the 2.4 trillion square feet estimated to be required to meet housing demands internationally by the UN’s GlobalABC report last year.

Peter MacKeith

Bentonville, Arkansas is home to the 350-acre construction site of the new Walmart headquarters. …No less than 1.1 million cubic feet of cross-laminated timber (or CLT) will be used in the construction of offices for an estimated 15,000 employees – timber harvested from Arkansas forests and finished in Arkansas mills. A fairly clear line can be drawn from work being done at the University of Arkansas to the decision to utilize this wood technology by the world’s largest retailer. The U of A has been at the forefront of advocacy of mass timber and wood products, as well as architectural and construction design education emphasizing mass timber, for nearly a decade … providing a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future… Perhaps the person most responsible for the rapid spread and investment in mass timber in Arkansas is Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. 

MILWAUKEE — The developer of what is set to become the world’s tallest mass timber structure in Milwaukee says they are exploring bringing the concept to cities across the country. Ascent is under construction at Van Buren and Kilbourn in the city’s downtown. The 284-foot-tall building with 259 apartments is notable because it is built from mass timber, instead of the traditional concrete and steel. The sustainable alternative is a hot topic among builders, and is still a new concept, particularly for buildings taller than a dozen stories. …Co-developer New Land Enterprises sats that they are exploring building similar structures in Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas and Nashville, among other cities.

FRISCO, Texas — During a July 5 meeting, the Frisco City Council passed a master development agreement for an office park called SouthStone Yards that will offer 1.1 million square feet of space across four buildings. “This project will bring much-needed office space to help our very full pipeline of prospects,” said Gloria Salinas, vice president of the Frisco Economic Development Corp., during the meeting. SouthStone Yards will be completed in four phases. Phases 1 and 3 will each feature a 230,000-square-foot, seven-story office building with an accompanying parking structure. … The developers plan to construct the first seven-story office building as a speculative mass timber building, making it the first of its kind in Dallas Fort Worth.