Gregg Patterson

A Move Toward Mass Timber by Gregg Patterson

A wood product gains popularity and takes center stage in innovative building designs in the state

Ihad a bag full of wooden building blocks in all shapes They’ve been intertwined for thousands, if not tens of and sizes when I was a kid. Every so often, I’d save thousands of years,” MacKeith said. “And it’s absolutely enough allowance money to go to the local hobby shop, relevant that the interest of our school should be directed and I’d add to that collection. I built countless buildings towards the interests of Arkansas agriculture. with those blocks. Peter MacKeith is having the same kind “We’re the only school of architecture and design for the of fun. The 61-year-old dean of the University of Arkansas’ state. I feel obligated to direct our attention to how we can be Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is reaching of service to the state’s interests,” MacKeith said. “And in this into his bag of building blocks and leading the insurgence sense, how we can be of service to the state’s forest, timber of mass timber as a key component in some of newest and and wood products.” most innovative architectural designs for the University of The in-state development and use of mass timber Arkansas. products fits that bill. The Ozark, Ouachita and Gulf Coastal

Timberlands cover 57 percent of Arkansas, and the Plain are timber-rich ecoregions. stumpage timber value paid to landowners is a critical “We began to systematically look at new developments component ($439 million) of the state’s agriculture economy, in temporal wood products and how, in many ways, the as well as being a jobs producer when value-added wood school and the university can be a source of innovation and products are produced here. Arkansas’ overall economy is economic development for the state’s agriculture and general reliant upon timber and wood products. economy and environment overall,” MacKeith explained.

At first glance for many, there might not seem to be a connection between architecture and agriculture. So how So, just what is mass timber? does architecture and growing timber relate? Mass timber can be understood if you think of something “In my view, agriculture and architecture are the first as simple as plywood that is a set of laminates or veneers that two forms of evidence of civilization and culture altogether. are bonded together with an adhesive. Scale that up to glue-

laminated timber that we see mostly in columns and beams. Those products have been produced in Arkansas for a while. A more contemporary product invented after the Second World War is called cross laminated timber (CLT). These are layers of 2x6s aligned and laid in cross orientation to each other in sets of three, five, seven or nine bonded layers.

MacKeith says it’s now being increasingly used in buildings in the United States. “It’s a kind of super plywood that can be produced in long panels as wide as 10-12 feet and as long as a flatbed trailer.”

MacKeith has long been a fan of CLT/mass timber. It began with a Fulbright scholarship that took him to Norway. He characterizes it as a nation fundamentally based on a forest economy and a leader in forest products innovation. He’s been a believer in CLT/mass timber use ever since. MacKeith took over as dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design more than 6-1/2 years ago. Fay Jones was an internationally renowned architect best known for his design of Thorn Crown Chapel located in Eureka Springs. MacKeith is quick to credit the faculty he inherited and those who have joined him since his arrival.

“I was already privileged by a strong faculty, and I think it has even improved and gotten better as we’ve been able to hire new faculty as the school has grown,” MacKeith said.

With his leadership, inspirational belief in mass timber and a strong faculty, CLT/mass timber building projects are springing up. “A number of things brought this to mind. But then again, I looked particularly at what Arkansas is in terms of a forested state and in terms of what could be added to Arkansas’ economy and could benefit Arkansas’ environment if we were able to make use of all the surplus timber the state is producing,” MacKeith said. “Cross laminated timber lends itself to that kind of direct use. And that’s really started the journey for us to talk about some of the projects that are ongoing, either projects that are under construction, have been built or will be built in the near future that the architecture school is involved with that uses this type of product.”

Those projects are numerous.

MacKeith says the first on campus was the Library Annex building completed two years ago. “It is almost exclusively cross laminated timber panels, as well as a glue laminated timber frame,” MacKeith said. “It was proof of concept that this type of construction could occur at a cost savings to the university and could be done in a time efficient way.”

The second building was the 200,000-square-foot, 708-bed residence hall called Adohi Hall. “Adohi” is a Cherokee word for “from the woods.” “That’s another proofof-concept building coming in on time and on budget, making use of a glue laminated frame, as well as cross laminated timber panels in the floors and ceilings. It’s currently the largest such structure in the United States making use of mass timber,” MacKeith said.

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Two more university buildings are on the way.

One is the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation. “That’s very special to us and really should be special to everyone in the state,” MacKeith said. He says it came about through many discussions with John Ed and Isabel Anthony of Anthony Timberlands who see the necessity of working in innovative ways with timber to grow the economy and grow the overall forest sector for the state. The architectural design for the building won this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize, an international honor. The building is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2023 with all the timber and wood being sourced out of Arkansas.

The other university building will be the Center for Arkansas Farms and Food, part of the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences. “It was designed by our school’s Community Design Center,” MacKeith said. That design won a 2020 PLAN Award. MacKeith says not only will the center benefit agriculture research, but the building’s design and use of mass timber “… is where, again, architecture and agriculture run parallel and then converge for each other’s benefit.”

Undoubtedly, the most prolific mass timber project in Arkansas will be the new Walmart corporate headquarters in Bentonville. It has MacKeith’s attention. “It’s an immense commitment by one of the world’s most important companies to mass timber and a true demonstration of the scalability of this form of construction,” he said. A Canadian company is bringing its mass timber expertise to Arkansas to manufacture the material for the project. MacKeith believes this and other CLT/mass timber projects will help define Arkansas as a leader in this type of construction and its associated wood products. “Regionally and nationally, this is truly transforming the Arkansas economy, building more jobs across the state and generating a great spotlight for us as well.”

Sounds like a kid enjoying playing with his building blocks. *

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