Leers Weinzapfel Associates Principal Tom Chung, FAIA wrote Building Design + Construction’s recent article “3 Mass Timber Architecture Innovations”.  This feature explores John W. Olver Design Building at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Adohi Hall at University of Arkansas and the Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science Building at Cornell University.

“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. Designed in 2014 and completed in 2017, our 87,500-sf Design Building was one of the first large-scale mass timber buildings in the U.S. It demonstrated the possibilities of mass timber with CLT gravity and lateral systems and a cutting-edge concrete-CLT composite floor system.” – Tom Chung as quoted in Building Design + Construction

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Tom Chung, Maryam M Karimé, Su Theng Poon, and Andy Wen presented last month on Recent Mass Timber Explorations at SGH’s Timber+ Forum. The LWA team discussed project examples, Conservation Legacy Center for the National Museum of Forest Service History and the Environmental Education Building at Auburn University.

Adohi Hall, University of Arkansas was Shortlisted in the 2024 World Architecture News Americas Awards in the Residential category.

Adohi Hall, a 708-bed student housing complex at the University of Arkansas, demonstrates a pioneering use of cross-laminated timber and an innovative approach to live-learn communities, with embedded arts and academic spaces.

Completed in August 2019, it was the largest mass timber building upon its completion and the first large-scale mass timber university housing in the US, supporting the economic potential of Arkansas’ burgeoning timber industry.

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Adohi Hall at University of Arkansas has won an Honor Award for Excellence in Architecture for a New Building for the 2024 SCUP’s Excellence Awards Program!

“SCUP Excellence Award honors achievement in strategic, integrated planning that results in exemplary buildings and grounds, institutional success, and careers that inspire.This award is a juried competition open to professional service providers and institutions that have prepared designs or plans for two-year and four-year colleges, universities, academic medical and research centers, and public or private institutions.”

– SCUP’s Excellence Awards Program

LWA Layla Ni & Maryam Karime, Associate AIA, have been nominated for the METROPOLIS’s prestigious Arch30 program, an initiative that recognizes the top 30 young architects. Congratulations on this significant recognition for both of our amazing architects!

“Nominees will convene for an exclusive workshop led by METROPOLIS’s Editor in Chief, Avinash Rajagopal, Editor at Large, Verda Alexander, and EVP and Design Futurist, AJ Paron, focused on professional development and networking. Following the program, enjoy a delightful cocktail reception. This is your chance to forge connections with fellow architects, engage with vendors, and even stand a chance to win exciting door prizes.” – METROPOLIS Arch30

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We welcome tenure-track faculty at accredited architecture schools throughout the U.S. to apply for an intensive 3-day workshop geared towards equipping faculty interested in teaching Mass Timber design. 

The objectives of the workshop is to provide faculty in architecture schools throughout the country, holistic understanding about mass timber (what it is, its life-cycle components, design and engineering possibilities, benefits and challenges, industry connections, etc.) to enhance academic teaching in mass timber that is grounded in practice and facilitates creative explorations of design possibilities. The workshop is sponsored by the Softwood Lumber Board and U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. 

As the workshop balances practice and academia, the collaboration of Leers Weinzapfel Associates Architects (LWA) and Auburn University’s Mass Timber Collaborative brings together architecture, forestry, engineering, and construction spanning both. 

LWA is an internationally recognized architecture firm with over a hundred design awards and a recipient of the national AIA’s Firm Award, the highest honor bestowed on a firm by the AIA. LWA’s two signature mass timber buildings, John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst (among the first and most advanced large scale academic CLT buildings in the US and national AIA Honor Award and Education Design Award Winner) and Adohi Hall at the University of Arkansas (the largest CLT building in the US at the time of completion in 2019 and national AIA Housing Design Award Winner) are nationally recognized as pioneering examples of mass timber architecture. 

Auburn University Mass Timber Collaborative, a recipient of the 2023 USDA Wood Innovations Grant, brings together the mass timber research and education among Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC), College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment (CFWE), and Samuel Ginn College of Engineering (SGCE). 

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LWA Principal Ashley Rao will be a speaker at this year’s AIA Conference, COD 2024 – Connecting Cultures, Catalyzing Change: Northwest Arkansas in the Ozarks, presenting on University of Arkansas Adohi Hall & Mass Timber. Join her on April 6th 3:30-5:30pm as she gives a tour of Adohi Hall and discusses the Mass Timber design and construction.

Register Today – https://events.aia.org/s/lt-event?id=a1Y8Z00000AQbKZ.

This Wednesday April 3rd, LWA Principal Ashley Rao AIA, LEED AP Phius CPHC will be giving a Guest Lecture at University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture. She will be presenting on Adohi Hall Student Residences as a Mass Timber Case Study. Learn more about Adohi Hall and its innovative and sustainable design elements: https://www.lwa-architects.com/project/university-arkansas-stadium-drive-residence-halls/

Join us April 9th at 6:00 PM EST for the TIMBER+ Industry Forum: Recent Mass Timber Explorations hosted by SGH. LWA’s  Tom Chung Maryam M Karimé, Su Theng Poon, and Chia Jung Wen will be presenting on our current Mass Timber projects.

RSVP Today: https://timberplus040924.rsvpify.com/?securityToken=Bd9APL6sPnjtKjmUpDN8AafTOeeqnHRL

We are excited to announce that five of our projects have been honored for the 2023 BSA Design Awards.

• Roslindale Library – BSA Built Design Award: Civic and Cultural Facilities, Social Impact Advancement Commendation

Jury Comment: “Beautiful presentation of the library renovation. Lovely explanation of the mini-vignettes within the library, and the story of the renovation itself is expressed clearly through the exploded axon. The “maze” of children’s bookshelves is a clever touch. Using the dome for light, and relating the organization of kids and adult areas with the existing window conditions, is smart and allows for the lower stacks and “book maze” for the kids, and more enclosed area for the kids’ reading lounge areas.”

• Auburn University Woodland Wonders Nature Preschool – BSA Unbuilt Planning & Design Award: Planning, Merit

Jury Comment: “This project is exciting because of how it allows for a design that places children and their caregivers deeply within nature while adhering to the look and actual material of that surrounding environment. The project goals are clearly articulated and evident in the aesthetics from building massing down to the details described.”

• Eliot Church Affordable Housing – BSA Unbuilt Planning & Design Award: Conceptual, Social Impact Advancement Commendation

Jury Comment: “Exploring the incorporation of mass timber structure into a triple-decker typology and providing affordable housing are noteworthy; tackling sustainability and housing issues at the same time.”

• Conservation Legacy Center – BSA Unbuilt Planning & Design Award: Planning, Environmental Impact Advancement Commendation

Jury Comment: “This project presents an exciting approach to Mass Timber Construction with a creative acknowledgement of the nation’s tree biodiversity and a design that allows visitors to appreciate the Center and the surrounding context. The Center’s mission to educate the public about the history and ongoing conservation work by showcasing wood species as part of the structure and user experience is very thoughtful and done successfully.”

• Williams College Davis Center – BSA Unbuilt Planning & Design Award: Planning, Social Impact Advancement Commendation

Jury Comment: “The goal of creating a both socially and technically connected building system is valuable and shows an alignment, again, with student interests in the project’s relationship to land and the surrounding environment. Approaches to healthy materials and building systems were clearly articulated, as was the responsible approach to water management. Aesthetically, the building’s inventive form and response to context are well considered.”

http://designawards.architects.org/2023-award-winners/