Climate-conscious and curriculum-reflective: wood was Michael Green Architecture’s fitting choice for part of the campus’s Forest Sciences Complex in Corvallis.

Key features 

Michael Green Architecture (MGA) contributed two mass timber buildings to the project: the 7,700-sq-m Peavy Hall and 1,700-sq-m AA ‘Red’ Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory (AWP), which are supported by ancillary spaces in the existing Richardson Hall. 

At the core of Peavy Hall – whose numerous classrooms and laboratories range from small to large and from interior to exterior to facilitate flexible teaching styles – is the Roseburg Forest Products Atrium. The warmth of wood pervades the space, where double-height Douglas fir columns interspersed with windows mimic the play of light and tree trunks in a forest. MGA also developed an innovative cross-laminated timber (CLT) rocking-wall system for the space in response to the site’s high seismic requirements. Due to its educational context, the building is considered a teacher. As such, it is monitored by integrated sensors that gather data on the structure’s movement and moisture levels. 

A dedicated research space for developing and testing advanced wood products and technologies, the AWP relies on MPP mass timber panels and glued laminated timber (GLT), a product made by bonding together layers of lumber with their woodgrains aligned. The physical strength of this combination allowed MGA to create the long span required for such an expansive space. 

Frame’s take 

Only in the last year or two did I not only learn the term ‘plyscraper’ but start to see some of the results of the mass movement towards mass timber construction. But in as far back as 2013, Michael Green gave a Ted Talk called ‘Why we should build wooden skyscrapers’, espousing both wood’s climate credentials and the technological advancements that make such structures possible. And building big in wood couldn’t come at a better time, since we urgently need solutions to the ever-looming climate crisis. ‘Two solutions to climate change are obviously to reduce our emissions and find [carbon] storage,’ said the architect during his talk. ‘Wood is the only major material I can build with that actually does both of those two things.’ Just one m3 of wood – a renewable material that can often be sourced locally, further reducing its carbon footprint – can store one tonne of CO2. Those in the industry who aren’t yet taking note should look to architects like Green for more insights.