AUBURN, Arkansas — Looking back at the past 10 years in mass timber design—since our firm’s first mass timber building, the John W. Olver Design Building at the University of Massachusetts Amherst—it is evident that as a building material mass timber and especially cross laminated timber (CLT) has come a long way. Since the landmark project kicked off a decade ago, more than a thousand mass timber buildings have been planned and hundreds have been realized as built projects. A quick look at WoodWork’s Wood Innovation Network proves this point of exponential acceleration. …As mass timber evolves, our firm is finding an increasing variety of mass timber solutions. Here are three primary examples: 1. The rise of mass timber-steel hybrid structures… 2. Novel connections reduce the need for steel reinforcement for mass timber buildings. 3. Teams are leveraging the two-way span capability of mass timber floor panels.