The Mass Timber Moment

📬 Intro: The Church in the Middle of Town

If you have ever sat in a church built between 1950 and 1985, there is a reasonable chance you have already been inside a mass timber building. The sweeping arches over the nave, the exposed beams carrying the ceiling, those were almost certainly glulam: wood laminated and engineered for span and strength.

Not many called it ‘mass timber’ then. They just called it ‘the sanctuary’.

Glulam has been structural for seventy years. School gymnasiums. Civic auditoriums. Industrial warehouses. It’s a track record most structural systems would envy. What’s changed is the scope of what can be built with it, and the carbon argument that has made it something developers and investors actually ask for.

🌍 Field Notes: Wood Is Having Its Moment

🌳 The Number That Tells the Story

As of March 2026, 2,746 multi-family, commercial, and institutional mass timber projects are built or in progress in the U.S., according to WoodWorks. That number has grown about 20 percent annually for several years. In 2019, the total was closer to just 500.

Production in the U.S. and Canada grew from 158,000 cubic meters in 2019 to 393,000 in 2023. Buildings constructed annually rose from 151 to 279. Not a niche. An industry finding its supply chain.

🔥 The Fire Argument

The first objection is always fire. The answer is more interesting than it sounds.

Mass timber chars at a predictable rate, roughly 0.02 inches per minute. The char layer that forms on the surface acts as insulation, protecting the wood underneath. The uncharred core retains 85 to 90 percent of its structural integrity throughout a burn. Engineers design for this: add char allowance to the section size, and the structure performs as calculated.

Steel conducts heat rapidly, loses strength, and can buckle without visible warning. Structural steel must be protected with applied fireproofing to meet the ratings mass timber achieves through its own section depth.

Heavy timber has been in building codes as a recognized fire-resistant assembly for over a century. The 1950s church with glulam arches had seventy years of performance data behind it. Architects were specifying it before most of the people in this industry were born.

⬇️ The Carbon Math and the New Code

A mass timber structure carries 28 to 51 percent lower global warming potential than functionally equivalent steel and concrete alternatives, on a cradle-to-grave lifecycle basis. A steel-and-concrete equivalent would have generated 2,500 to 3,500 tonnes of embodied carbon. Adohi Hall locked away 2,757 tonnes instead of releasing them. That carbon is locked in for the life of the building.

The 2021 International Building Code introduced Types IV-A, IV-B, and IV-C: prescriptive construction types that allow mass timber up to 18 stories. Ascent Tower in Milwaukee, 25 stories and 284 feet, opened in 2022 under a Wisconsin variance before those changes took effect. It would not need that variance today.

A MESSAGE FROM BUILDINGPLAQUES.COM

The Better Way To Present Your LEED Certified Project to The World

Using buildingplaques.com online Plaque Designer, you can quickly and easily design and order customized LEED recognition plaques that features the details of your specific LEED certified project.

Our architectural grade anodized aluminum signs are available in multiple sizes, and identify the elements of your design that earn LEED certification and acknowledge key project members, all while being less expensive than comparable LEED recognition plaque options.

Ready to create your own LEED recognition plaque?

Check Out BUILDINGPLAQUES.COM 

🏛 Built to Last

Mass timber reaches 2,746 projects because the supply chain built out, the codes changed, and the carbon math became something clients ask about. The remaining barrier is familiarity. Teams who started earlier are doing more projects.

By role:

📐 Structural engineers: IBC 2021 Types IV-A through IV-C allow up to 18 stories. The variance era is over for most projects.

📏 Architects: Char allowance is the design variable. Detail connections for exposure. The structure earns its place.

🌳 Sustainability consultants: 2,757 tonnes CO₂ stored in one mid-rise. Run the lifecycle numbers in schematic design.

🏢 Developers: 20 percent annual growth, improving supply chain, code clarity. The risk profile shifted.

Limited Sponsorship Opportunities Available

Green Building Matters Podcast is now exploring a select number of brand partnerships with organizations aligned with the future of sustainable building.
Reach the professionals shaping the industry—and do it with intention.

[email protected]

Now Open: Limited Brand Partnerships

✍️ Brian Bollinger, our Head Writer, helps sustainability professionals connect performance, workflow, and real-world results.

🌍️ Charlie Cichetti, our Fearless Leader, is CEO of Skema and a LEED Fellow who has guided more than 150,000 professionals as building practice continues to evolve.

Let’s Green Up together.

👉 [Explore Sustainability Credentials at GBES.com]
👉 [See what Skema’s building for architects]
👉 [Book a Waste2Zero audit before your next LEED Renewal]