Mass timber is being pushed to the limits of U.S. commercial building codes with Bevel, a 12-storey office tower planned for downtown Bellevue. Designed by Waugh Thistleton Architects and Mithun for Skanska, the approximately 200,000-sq.-ft., 180-ft-tall building will use exposed mass timber columns, beams and ceilings throughout its office floors and ground-level public areas. A steel core and lateral system addresses the Pacific Northwest’s seismic demands, while a concrete structure contains parking below grade. The timber system also enables a side-core layout and broad, connected floor plates that proved more efficient than a conventional concrete scheme during design studies. Bevel is targeting LEED v4 Platinum, Fitwel 2-Star and Salmon-Safe certification, with an all-electric building system, stormwater reuse and extensive native landscaping. If built as designed, it would be the tallest mass timber commercial office building in North America.

An eight-storey mass timber apartment building planned for Toronto’s Danforth Avenue is intended to serve as a pilot for a larger portfolio of missing-middle rental housing. Designed by Batay-Csorba Architects for Collecdev-Markee Developments, the 56,000-sq.-ft. project will provide 64 homes on a transit-oriented site that incorporates an existing heritage structure. Its prefabricated mass timber approach was developed with Element5 and GENERATE, whose digital platform was used to compare structural systems, pricing and constructability early in the design process. A hybrid CLT cellular system emerged as the preferred solution, illustrating how standardized timber systems and rapid design optioneering could help make mid-rise housing more repeatable. The project is the first of five buildings planned for Collecdev-Markee’s Missing Middle Rental Portfolio. 

A neighbourhood library in Brooklyn is becoming one of New York City’s first public mass timber buildings. Designed by Studio Joseph for the Brooklyn Public Library, the new Canarsie Library will replace a 1960 renovation of a former grocery store with an approximately 11,000-sq.-ft., two-storey facility that doubles the amount of space available to the community. Its exposed structural system combines spruce-pine-fir CLT with Douglas fir glulam, and the generous use of wood throughout delivers the warm materiality that residents asked for during extensive community engagement. The expanded library will include dedicated areas for children, teens and adults, as well as a maker space, recording studio, community room and a landscaped upper-level terrace. Large areas of glazing will make the timber interior open and visible by day and transform the library into a glowing neighbourhood “lantern” after dark. Completion is scheduled for 2027.

A constrained site above railway tunnels in central Sydney is driving an unusual application of mass timber. Designed by Tzannes for NGI Investments, the approved 13-storey tower at 4–6 York Street will contain 6,594 m² of retail and commercial space beside the heritage-listed former Bank of New South Wales. Rather than imposing the weight of a conventional concrete structure above the tunnels, the design uses a hybrid concrete-and-steel load-transfer system and central core to support 12 timber commercial floors. The timber and steel components are also designed for future disassembly and reuse. Planned as one of New South Wales’ tallest commercial mass timber buildings, the development extends Tzannes’ work with engineered timber in Sydney while responding to its heritage setting through a façade combining concrete, ceramic tile, glass and timber. 

Calgary is building what is being described as the world’s first accessible, disability-focused arts learning campus. The $30-million Accessible Arts Learning Campus brings together two facilities: the new Joseph Chung Centre for Creativity, designed by DIALOG, and the adaptive reuse of an existing building as the Trico Communities Accessible Arts Centre, designed by Iwanski Architecture. The two-storey Chung Centre is organized around a large curvilinear rehearsal studio and uses a hybrid mass timber structure based on a repeatable 6 m × 6 m grid. Wood also defines its architecture, including a façade designed to weather from deep brown to silver. The facility will support dance, music, digital media and performance programming for artists with disabilities, combining barrier-free circulation with passive daylighting, rooftop solar and an all-electric building system. Construction began in 2026, with the Chung Centre targeted for completion in winter 2027.