While still trailing far behind concrete and steel as the structural material of choice, mass timber frames in the U.S. are on an upswing, in great part because the sustainable material is renewable. There are 445 engineered wood projects completed or under construction, and 534 in design, according to WoodWorks, a nonprofit technical support group promoting the use of wood in nonresidential and multifamily buildings. And the number of new mass-timber buildings in North America will double every two years, predicts the Forest Business Network.
“North America is in the early stages of a mass-timber construction boom, driven by increasing demand and expanded building code acceptance of larger mass-timber structures,” says Robert Malczyk, director of mass timber engineering at Katerra, a supplier and fabricator of cross-laminated timber (CLT). “We’ve seen adoption of mass timber across a range of building types, market sectors and [locations] particularly in academic, institutional and multifamily sectors.”