Scaling Mass Timber Construction in Dense Urban Environments: Three Not-So-Little Projects

Using mass timber construction instead of concrete and steel can greatly reduce the embodied carbon of new construction, but faces specific challenges in dense urban environments in addition to limited contractor experience and cost risk. This session presents an affordable housing project in New Haven and multi-family and adaptive re-use projects in Brooklyn that highlight how effective design and project planning can mitigate these challenges to increase the construction of high-performance mass-timber buildings in urban cores.

Event Date
Thursday, March 20, 2025 - 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

Session Chairs

Session Speakers

Room / Location
Marina 1
Learning Objectives
Summarize challenges encountered when building with mass timber in tight urban locations, and solutions to help realize the benefit of faster construction timelines using prefabricated mass timber panels
Discuss key design details to effectively integrate CLT/NLT into highly efficient envelopes that meet passive house principles without using foam insulation
Describe the challenges that contractors with little or no experience with mass timber projects often face and ways to mitigate them
Take measures to protect mass timber floor and walls from the elements during construction in the Northeast climate to maintain appealing panel finishes
CEU Information

This session is approved for 1 credit hour toward AIA (LU), BOC, LEED (BD+C), and NAHB certification. Those who attend a full day of the conference are additionally eligible for credit toward MA CSL, NARI, PHI, Phius, and RESNET certification.

Session ID
BOS25-133
Session Documents
133_scaling_mass_timber.pdf (8.86 MB)