John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst

The John W. Olver Design Building is one of the most advanced mass timber projects in the U.S. Designed to bring students of architecture, landscape architecture and building construction under one roof, the Design Building is itself a teaching tool. The structure, which includes a glulam beam-and-column frame, glulam brace frame and CLT shear walls, is largely left exposed, as are many of the MEP systems. Features also include an advanced timber-concrete composite floor system, researched in part by the UMass Amherst Building Construction Technology program, and a unique timber-steel composite zipper truss.