18 November 2025
With a philanthropic client for a new build in a forest setting, the first (and only …) design option has to be mass timber. Sure enough, it’s stunning in a magnificent setting; enjoy!
Perched on a ridgeline in Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, the nearly all-wood Tekαkαpimək Contact Station seems to float among the trees yet anchors firmly to granite bedrock. Conceived under the mandate to “use wood, use local,” the park and cultural center employs CLT floor slabs, custom-fabricated glulam columns and beams, white cedar cladding, and Douglas fir interiors. Designed with the Wabanaki Advisory Board—an alliance of Indigenous Maine tribes—the structure feels like a sanctuary, framing views to Mount Katahdin outside while embedding Indigenous stories and artwork within.
WoodWorks Issue – 18 Nov 2025
Welcome
Greetings from your WoodWorks team. Thanks to everyone who attended our WoodWorks annual conference earlier this month in Rotorua, we had a full house. Thanks also to our speakers, who delivered a range of topics from how buildings are designed and constructed in Australia, to how local teams delivered some of many new mass timber builds in New Zealand.
From 90 Devonport Road in Tauranga to B201 at University of Auckland and the Air New Zealand Hangar 4 project (on show to the ‘flying’ public) a range of professionals shared their learnings from these iconic mass timber projects. The team from Red Stag Timberlab outlined their new approach with “Timberlab 2.0 – Standardised Sector Solutions which was highly rated by our conference delegates. Also highly rated was an insightful technology presentation from Brad Sara of Warren and Mahoney: “AI – The Impact on Architecture: Game Over or Game On”.
The selection of glulam timber for the recently opened Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre hangar structure was an obvious choice, driven by its inherent advantages in performance, aesthetics and sustainability. Read more about this state-of-the-art aircraft hangar and other stories below.
- One for the engineers… Wood You Believe It? The timber truss stealing the show in Barbados.
- Bee-dazzled by the Hive: It’s great to see The Hive glowing at night along the Vancouver skyline!
- With a philanthropic client for a new build in a forest setting, the first (and only …) design option has to be mass timber.
- One for the architects: A beautiful build in a beautiful setting.
18 November 2025
Glulam propels sustainable building at Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre
With New Zealand’s government setting an ambitious goal to double the combined space and advanced aviation sectors – currently valued at near $3 billion – by 2030, the recently opened...
18 November 2025
Wood You Believe It? The timber truss stealing the show in Barbados
The wood-to-wood connections appear at points throughout the Barbados National Performing Arts Centre, but they are most prominently present in the six-meter-tall, 24-meter-spanning timber truss that forms the backbone at...
18 November 2025
Bee-dazzled by the Hive
It’s great to see The Hive glowing at night along the Vancouver skyline!This groundbreaking 10-story mass timber office building stands as one of the tallest timber braced-frame structures in North...
18 November 2025
A beautiful build in a beautiful setting
With a philanthropic client for a new build in a forest setting, the first (and only …) design option has to be mass timber. Sure enough, it’s stunning in a...