COTE Presents: Mass Timber’s Mass Appeal

AIAT COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT (COTE) PRESENTS

MASS TIMBER’S MASS APPEAL

NC State College of Design, Burns Auditorium

Thursday, May 25 | 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm| 1.5 AIA LU credits

AIA Members/AIAT Annual Partners/Students: $0 | Non Members: $35

SPEAKERS: Casey Farren, AIA (Gensler);  Steve Kelley, PhD (NC State College of Natural Resources)

For countless reasons, mass timber in the United States is typically associated with the Pacific Northwest. And while it is true that most wood used for production of mass timber in North America comes from Canada and the Pacific Northwest, the southeast United States is emerging as a serious contender in the market, now contributing a significant proportion of the North American lumber used for mass timber. While the sourcing of mass timber from the southeast is important by itself, it matters just as much for major organizations to adopt mass timber construction within the region and across the country.

There are several large-scale projects poised to redefine sustainable architecture as we know it. The benefits of mass timber can often seem too good to be true. We understand the skepticism, but have experienced comparable schedule improvements firsthand, and we believe the strategy holds just as many benefits for developers as it does for end users. It turns out that mass timber can prove beneficial for both short-term and long-term timeframes. And while mass timber materials present users with a higher upfront cost than steel and concrete, offsite assembly, safer construction, reduced labor costs, and lower interior finishing costs are only a few examples of how to offset that initial cost. We will be pulling mass timber explorations from various projects around the continental U.S. and abroad. For example, construction is underway on the Walmart Home Office Campus in Bentonville, Arkansas, where mass timber will comprise the primary structural material for the campus, marking an evolution in how the strategy is implemented. With more than 2.4 million square feet of office space, the company’s new campus is the largest mass timber corporate campus currently under construction in the United States. This session will explain the timber supply chain, regional variation, manufacturing limitations, and the impacts on carbon emissions.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Participants will be able to describe the timber supply chain from forest to mill to site.

Participants will be able to outline how carbon flows from forest to building products compares to other structural systems from structural span, to a cost, schedule, and embodied carbon perspective.

Participants will be able to identify strategies to move beyond the technical aspects of mass timber design and advocate for the experience of being in a space that connects to nature.

Participants will see the potential paths for making sure no wood goes into the landfill. Reclaimed wood and Bioenergy – Opportunities to have a second, third, or fourth life. Whether you’re cutting down trees or demolishing a board room or your back deck, you have a biomass feedstock on your hands. 

SPEAKER BIOS:

Casey Farren: An architect at Gensler and native North Carolinian, Casey possesses a deep interest in designing architecture that both respects and celebrates its surrounding natural environment. After earning a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture and a Masters in Architecture from North Carolina State University Casey worked for several years in Raleigh, NC and San Antonio, TX focusing primarily on K-12 and multifamily housing work while also having the opportunity to work as Architect of Record for Ruby City in San Antonio in collaboration with Adjaye Associates.

Steve Kelley: Dr. Steve Kelley is the Reubin B. Robertson Professor and Head of the Department of Forest Biomaterials at NC State. His research interests include the sustainable production of energy and materials from biomass. Prior to joining NC State, he spent 13 years at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory working on biomass conversion technologies. He also spent 6 years in industry.
At NC State he has led a series of research projects focused on bioenergy and carbon cycles, and most recently focused on forest carbon capture from relatively slow growth, and the implications of ‘immediate release’ of carbon, e.g., from bioenergy, vs. the ‘temporary storage’ in durable wood products, e.g., buildings or biochar.