Barry Mills Hall and the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies, Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME
- Award Year
- 2024
- Award Category
- Wood in Architecture
- Architect
- HGA
- Structural Engineer
- HGA
- Owner
- Bowdoin College
- Contractor
- Consigli Construction Co., Inc.
- Photos
- Michael Moran
Mass timber helps college meet commitment to carbon neutrality
Located among a stand of mature pine trees, this contemporary two-building development clearly stands out among the more traditional stone buildings on Bowdoin College’s New England campus. Barry Mills Hall houses academic, office, and event space, and the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies contains offices and classrooms, as well as the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.
When initially considering the context of this project, architects at HGA knew that mass timber would be a good fit structurally, and because it would meet Bowdoin’s deep-standing commitment to sustainable building practices and carbon neutrality, but they took nothing for granted in recommending its use.
They first evaluated two structural systems—mass timber and steel—comparing design, function, cost, and embodied carbon. An early-phase life cycle assessment (LCA) found that mass timber would result in a significant embodied carbon reduction. And while early estimates showed similar material costs for the two systems, Consigli Construction created a 4D model to quantify the schedule savings, finding that the mass timber system would save three to four weeks in installation time.
The structure of both buildings contains glue-laminated timber (glulam) beams and columns supporting cross-laminated (CLT) panels. Long-span asymmetrical glulam trusses with CLT panels frame the pitched roofs. The development was the first mass timber project for Bowdoin and the first commercially-scaled mass timber project in the state of Maine.
49,500 sf / Type V-A construction
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