Mass Timber A

Sentech’s latest project feature a trailblazer for “mass timber” buildings combined with structural glass in Northern California. The building is paving the way for future buildings to be constructed along the same method, which utilizes wood in combination with insulated structural glass to result in fewer carbon emissions, decreased costs, and an improved user experience by combining the transparency of glass with the warmth of wood. Only the second mass timber structures in its locale, the structure is wrapped by a structural glass wood fin façade, utilizing our VetraFin-W Series System, that was designed, engineered, and manufactured by Sentech.

The mass timber construction method was originally pioneered in Europe, and in today’s built environment, architects, builders, and sustainability advocates are focused on this new way of using wood- which has the potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector, decrease pollution, waste and construction costs. Structural timber, or “mass timber”, encompasses various species and types of wood, and can include glulam (glue-laminated) beams, LVL (laminated veneer lumber), NLT (nail-laminated timber), DLT (dowel-laminated timber), and CLT (cross-laminated timber).

Exposed wood in combination with structural glass, as is on full display in this design, is still in its infancy in the United States. With modern manufacturing technology, the options for and combinations of wood and structural glass are endless. This two-story building in Northern California is characterized by its timber structure and an overall natural warm palette that creates a grand entrance experience and mass timber innovation at the pedestrian scale. The jumbo glass façades flood the building with light with its insulated glass and wood façades climbing over 38 feet in height.

LEED Platinum-certified and constructed with a sustainably sourced mass timber structure, the building will store more than four tons of CO2 in its timber and avoid almost another seven tons of CO2 through material efficiency and durability. Moreover, the climate responsive shading increases energy efficiency.

Transparent, organic, warm, connected and sustainable, this VetraFin-W structure proves that mass timber combined with structural glass will truly redefine the built environment as we know it.