Mass Timber in the United States
Credit: Architect D2 Group
By Luke Carothers
Mass Timber 101 that is meant to introduce Mass Timber as a material as well as some of its idiosyncrasies within the construction industry. Mordan and his team have also worked with groups like the Wood Council to “garner some more education and excitement on [Mass Timber].” These efforts to use Mass timber and educate the industry about it are predicated on Mordan’s belief that Mass Timber has massive benefits from a sustainability perspective. According to Mordan, sustainability is reliably the aspect of Mass Timber that can “get the foot in the door.” The carbon sequestration of the timber as well as its renewability means that it has the potential to immediately help projects meet sustainability goals. Compared to traditional building materials, Mass Timber allows projects to incorporate a higher level of sustainability. Mordan believes that, while the sustainability aspects of Mass Timber are at the forefront when trying to convince shareholders to adopt it on projects, the material has incredible benefits towards the aesthetic design of spaces as well as its ease of constructability. Because Mass Timber products are prefabricated, this increases the construction efficiency of projects, which in turn leads to less money spent on things like labor and fuel. Mordan is also adamant that Mass Timber introduces important and unique aesthetic qualities that transform spaces and connect them with nature through biophilic design. As biophilic design becomes more popular, particularly within urban spaces, Mass Timber represents a tremendous opportunity to incorporate design with sustainability goals and efficient construction methods.
Dennis Mordan is the Vice President and Principal at O’Donnell & Naccarato where he oversees multiple mass timber projects. Mordan has been in the AEC industry for 34-years, and has worked structural design for a variety of project types including institutional, residential, higher education, and healthcare. Four years ago in 2019, Mordan was first introduced to Mass Timber, and quickly noticed it as an emerging and unique opportunity for change in the construction market. After meeting with clients on the architecture and design ends who saw the same potential, Mordan and O'Donnell & Naccarato soon began looking for opportunities to “jump in and start using Mass Timber.” According to Mordan, this process began with gathering more information about Mass Timber projects and material suppliers. In this pursuit, Mordan says that touring projects and facilities in Canada was an invaluable resource. Because Canada has adopted more Mass Timber-friendly building codes, Mordan and the group were able to tour a variety of projects that were currently under construction, which gave the group a better understanding of the “real world opportunities” to deploy Mass Timber. Armed with a better understanding of how Mass Timber projects operate, Mordan and his team returned home to look for opportunities to deploy this new way of thinking. This meant both getting involved in Mass Timber projects and engaging in education to increase client and industry understanding of Mass Timber. A few years ago, Mordan and his team developed a seminar for architects and contractors called
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JULY 2023
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