Realizing Mass Timber’s Benefits: Key Design Decisions and Carbon Analysis

Mass timber is a unique, non-commodity building material and, to lay the groundwork for success, certain critical decisions must be made as early as possible. These decisions can have a big impact on cost, and can either increase or limit the opportunities available later in design. This presentation will examine early project decisions and design steps, focusing on how to optimize projects for mass timber to avoid price premiums. Topics will include construction types, fire ratings, column grids and beam/panel spans, acoustics, and MEP integration. Completed mass timber projects will be presented to illustrate the variety of viable options when navigating these key decisions.

Another important topic in mass timber building design is understanding how building material choice contributes to carbon impact. As more building designers utilize life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare the environmental performance of material and design alternatives, questions arise about how wood products and buildings should be analyzed. Most designers recognize the carbon-storing capability of wood but are unsure how to include it in their carbon analysis. This course will provide an in-depth look at biogenic carbon accounting, including when and how it should be counted, as well as a discussion of end-of-life assumptions.

Speaker: Eric Gu, PhD, PE, LEED Green Associate | WoodWorks

Attendees can Earn 2.0 AIA/CES HSW LUs, 2.0 PDH credits or 0.2 ICC credits

Online Attendees:

WoodWorks will send each attendee a certificate of completion within 2 weeks via email.

Please note that to receive a certificate, attendees must stay for the duration of the event.

For questions or additional information, please contact:

Jaime Krohn, CMP | jaime@woodworks.org | (312) 841-8272

Image: Platte Fifteen / OZ Architecture / Photo JC Buck Studios