Mass Timber
Mass timber construction in buildings, from CLT and glulam structures to the design tradeoffs of building with engineered wood at scale.
Mass timber refers to engineered wood products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), glued laminated timber (glulam), and nail-laminated timber, which are fabricated in large solid panels and beams. These systems can carry structural loads in mid-rise and increasingly tall buildings, offering an alternative to steel and concrete with lower embodied carbon. Designers working with the material must account for fire performance, moisture, connection detailing, and prefabrication logistics.Community work under this topic ranges from roof and greenhouse structures in glulam to full mass timber houses assembled in days, and speculative proposals for timber-framed vertical farms and landscaped roofs. Projects show how the material is applied across scales, from civic and agricultural structures to housing and large-scale urban renewal.
