Waechter Architecture has completed an “all-wood” commercial building in Portland, which it says is the first commercial building in Oregon to “use mass timber construction for all components of the building”.
The building, called Mississippi has structural elements made from cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels and glued-laminated timber (glulam) beams.
Apart from the exterior weathering steel “rain jacket”, rock wool insulation, and radiant concrete flooring, all of the surfaces of the building are exposed wood, “without any need for additional finishes or fireproofing”.
The three-storey structure comprises six volumes arrayed around a central courtyard. The building is meant to be “elemental and uncomplicated” and be a model for “an industrial loft for the 21st Century,” according to the studio.
