Catalyst Building

The Catalyst Building is the first office building in the state constructed out of CLT, and will be connected to a planned energy resource sharing eco-district. It is intended to demonstrate the possibilities associated with the integration of economic vitality, regional sustainability, and energy efficiency by leveraging the legacy industries of the region (such as timber) and the innovation happening in the construction and education sectors. The use of CLT means the building has a smaller carbon footprint than that of comparable structures built with steel and concrete.

This lateral system is the first of its kind and is outside of the building code pre-approved traditional systems. As such, KPFF collaborated with the jurisdiction to provide a performance-based seismic design. Component testing was completed at Oregon State University to determine strength, stiffness, and ductility measurements of the shear wall connections. The CLT floor panels were also designed as the building’s floor diaphragms.

One of the challenges for the design team was to create an efficient floor framing system for a traditional 30 ft x 30 ft office grid using all mass timber while also allowing for MEP routing and future flexibility. The larger bay framing also presented challenges to limit floor vibrations due to the inherent lower floor weight for the mass timber system. To address these demands the design team collaborated to design a glulam post and beam system which supports CLT and glulam rib composite double-tee panels. The system provides an efficient structure for spans previously unachievable with CLT panels alone. The framing also maintains a consistent one-way glulam rib system allowing MEP system routing with minimal impacts to the building’s aesthetics. Full-scale project specific testing was conducted at Oregon State University to justify the composite double-tee panel design.

See the WoodWorks technical case study on this project.