Serving as mass timber educators and advocates, our engineers helped the team and district conceptualize, adapt, and ultimately bring mass timber concepts to life.
Originally, the entry, dining commons and library of the school were designed with cross-laminated timber (CLT), but when pricing came back too high, a steel system was reconsidered. Instead of the steel system, the team found a mass timber solution in dowel-laminated timber (DLT).
The DLT installation is striking, allowing the school’s entry, dining commons, and library to feature exposed timber ceilings. In addition to DLT panels, the installation includes ribs of Douglas Fir glulam beams.
Beyond aligning with the architectural vision, the materials perform exceptionally in this large, open school setting. A healthy choice for school environments, DLT panels which are essentially 100% wood and have zero potential to off-gas any harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs). And thanks to the addition of sound absorbing insulation, acoustic DLT panels also provide impressive noise control (achieving noise absorption as high as a 0.7 NRC value) and eliminating the need for an acoustic ceiling (like the standard acoustic ceiling tile).
The largest DLT panels are nearly 40 feet long. Prefabricated and efficiently flat-packed to the construction site, they were in place in just two weeks.
Photography © Copyright 2021 Benjamin Benschneider All Rights Reserved.
