Mass Timber Prototype

This ‘as-of-right’ office building concept was designed in 2016 to answer the newly minted Ontario Building Code allowing mass timber construction up to six storeys. Of the three major structural materials used in building construction – concrete, steel, and wood – mass timber has the softer environmental footprint. Wood sequesters atmospheric carbon. Carbon sequestration is the concept of locking carbon out of the atmosphere and into the fibre of the wood semi-permanently thus lowering its carbon profile relative to other structural materials. Other energy-saving features include geothermal HVAC system, green roofs, high-performance envelope, passive solar shading, wind deflection fins, and virtually no thermal bridging.