The seven-story, 242,000-sq-ft office building reduced embodied carbon by combining concrete and mass timber. The building’s core and first floor podium are concrete, while the core and shear-wall lateral system is paired with a mass timber framework of glulam columns, beams and cross-laminated timber decks. Raised electrical flooring throughout the building offers future flexibility for the owner and tenants, which include Toyota, which has already leased the building.

By designing and building with mass timber, the project has a smaller carbon footprint than a steel-and-concrete version would have.

Photo by Ryan Conway

In fact, the project team reports that construction proved to be nearly carbon neutral, with the use of mass timber lowering its carbon footprint by more than 85% relative to an equivalent concrete structure while mitigating or capturing approximately 6,600 tons of carbon.

Although these advantages come with the challenge of pioneering this construction type and its unique characteristics, the project and design teams resolved traditional issues in new ways, achieving LEED-CS Core and Shell 4.0 Gold and becoming One Star Fitwel MTTB Certified.

Additionally, mass timber not only reduces the building’s carbon footprint, but it also provides greater design flexibility and thermal insulation, according to the project team.

The construction team faced a number of challenges in procuring and manufacturing the required wood, but it was able to transition to a second regional vendor.

Photo by Ryan Conway

While mass timber providers are rare in the U.S., the timber was regionally sourced southern yellow pine that was grown in Florida and Alabama, then fabricated in Alabama and Texas. This substantially reduced the project’s carbon footprint by reducing travel and providing an authentic wood native to the region.

The building’s construction also follows biophilic principles and is designed for circularity, making it possible for the mass timber components to be reused or repurposed in future projects.

“While the timber is the showstopper, many details throughout the building help drive home sustainability and building optimization,” notes the project team’s Best Projects contest entry.

For instance, the building prioritizes green vehicles for tenants, provides ample and usable open space for tenants and the public, reduces water use and offers outstanding indoor environmental quality. The project also earned pilot credits for integrative analysis of building materials as well as collected environmental product declarations (EPDs) for the entire project, and it significantly reduced any heat island effect.