Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Market Updates - June 2025 - Week TwentyThree
The timber revolution is building momentum across the globe. This week, we journey through five remarkable projects that showcase how mass timber is transforming our built environment and challenging conventional construction methods.
Toronto steps boldly into affordable housing innovation with Collective Marquee Developments' ambitious Danforth Avenue project. This eight-storey mid-rise building will deliver 64 purpose-built rental suites using factory-built mass timber methods, with 10% of units secured as affordable for an unprecedented 99 years. Located near transit hubs and designed with sustainability at its core, this development represents a crucial milestone in addressing the "missing middle" housing gap through eco-conscious construction.
We then explore Cullinan Studios' thoughtful timber expansion of Maggie's Newcastle, where architectural harmony meets practical innovation. By switching from concrete to a mass timber frame, the designers created a lighter structure requiring less intensive foundations—proving that sustainability and cost-effectiveness can go hand-in-hand without compromising design integrity.
The Adelaide Aquatic Centre stands as a testament to global collaboration, featuring massive 37-meter glulam beams and CLT components shipped from Europe to Australia. This logistical marvel demonstrates how international supply chains can effectively deliver mass timber solutions across continents. Meanwhile, in Germany, Trumpf's striking 40,000-square-foot education center showcases how corporations are embracing mass timber to create distinctive, brand-aligned architectural statements with their radial roof structure becoming a campus centerpiece.
Perhaps most intriguing is the emergence of "Super Bungalows" in Los Angeles, where mass timber meets resilience in fire-prone California. This hybrid system of mass timber and light timber framing pioneers a construction approach that could revolutionize multifamily housing throughout Southern California.
Join us as we celebrate these groundbreaking projects and continue our mission of documenting the global mass timber movement. Don't forget to connect with us on LinkedIn, share your thoughts, or submit your research to the Mass Timber Construction Journal. Together, we're building a more sustainable future—one timber beam at a time.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are live. This is the moment you all have been waiting for. It's time for the global sensation, the one, the only, the undisputed heavyweight podcast in the world the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. And now here's Paul Kramer, your host. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening wherever you are in the world today. Welcome to the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. My name is Paul Kramer, your host. Welcome to another weekly episode of our update for Mass Timber projects around the world. Don't forget to hit like, subscribe, share, comment on our posts on our linkedin media feed or leave us some feedback. Mass timber construction podcast at gmailcom, and we would be very pleased to receive your information to tell us what you think of the content.
Speaker 1:Let's have a look at what's making news around the world this week in mass timber construction, land and collective marquee launches a missing middle rental portfolio with Danforth application Collective, marquee Developments has been submitting a zoning by law amendment application to the City of Toronto for 2720 to 2734 Danforth Avenue. For 2720-2734 Danforth Avenue, where an eight-story mid-rise building will be introduced with 64 purpose-built rental suites in East Danforth neighborhood, the design by local architects proposes to provide the first of the missing middle projects planned for the Toronto area in partnership with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The development would rise in the east of Main Street, within walking distance of Danforth, go and Main Street's stations. Gleck Dev Marquis looks at delivering the mid-rise density through factory-built construction methods using mass timber as a primary building element. All five buildings are designed as purpose-built rentals, with at least 10% of the units secured as affordable for 99 years. Go well on this project. It's going to be an important step forward for affordable housing using mass timber in this space. Congratulations to the team involved. You can head to the LinkedIn feed to check out all the details.
Speaker 1:And cullinan studios has added a timber framed extension to maggie's newcastle over 10 years after the practice completed the original scheme. Maggie's newcastle is in the grounds of the city's freeman hospital and designed by ted cullinan back in Cullinan Studios in 2013. To boost capacity, maggie's asked Cullinan Studios to add a new annex to the main building with the same material palette and rhythm of the existing centre. The extension consists of large, multi-purpose rooms with two small rooms, has its own entrance route, completing the third side of the courtyard to provide additional shelter. Completing the third side of the courtyard to provide additional shelter. Design is to be set out in the same grid and the structure has mass timber frame instead of a traditional concrete one, which then gives it a lighter structural weight capacity, allowing for less foundations, and thus soil removed is less, bringing cost savings down. A great initiative by all involved on the project. If you like to have a look at this innovative extension to the existing project, you can head to you know where.
Speaker 1:Don't normally promote too many organizations on the podcast. We normally talk about projects, but this has to be a significant milestones for sarah construction in austral, australia, for the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, and specifically the materials that came from Harschlaka, norica timber and Hess timber that were produced in Europe and shipped all the way to Australia. There was 324 cubic meters of glulam and 108 cubic meters of CLT, for a total of 3,130 meters squared of prefabricated acoustic ceilings and modules that were delivered to Australia. They had a length of 37 meters. These glulam were shipped in break bolt and arrived in Melbourne and then were assembled fully on site. What's really impressive is there is a video that shows you a behind the scenes of how these particular elements got shipped and arrived in Australia. If you'd like to check out that video, you can go to our LinkedIn feed.
Speaker 1:In 2018, I had the pleasure of going to the US to go to the Trump Factory T-R-U-M-P-F, and now we are showcasing a project that was completed in 2024 for a 40,000 square foot building using mass timber elements as the primary vehicle, mainly glulam for this particular project. The organization has a mass timber belt education center that the company uses, where it provides clientele and visitors an overview of how it produces its equipment and its integration between all of the facets within its manufacturing environment. Although Trump's headquarters is in a little village, it's hard to miss this when you're speeding down the Autobahn just outside Stuttgart in Germany. It's hidden in the thick row of trees, and the new education center has been created as a focal point for the campus under a radial roof structure. I've put the designs and some photos that are very impressive of this new education center for Trump. You can go and check it out for yourself, and we all know that over the summer period, california and its local hills were razed by fire.
Speaker 1:Now we have super bungalows in Los Angeles. These are radically reconsidered housing options using panelized building components made of mass timber, and they are used to construct building in the super la, a design and development firm that comes to the views of homes as products rather than bespoke architectural projects. Called super bungalows. On marathon, the nine unit apartment building is located on the slope of Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. It's a hybrid system of mass timber and light timber framing, and it's constructed for the first time using a system that can be used to provide multifamily projects in Southern California. According to a press release, you can have a look at this amazing super bungalows if you head to our LinkedIn feed.
Speaker 1:So that's it, folks. That's all we've got time for this week in mass timber construction land. I hope you have a great week ahead. We look forward to catching up with you next week for more projects, innovative projects from around the world. Don't forget to like, subscribe, share, comment, repost anything on our social media platforms, and thank you for tuning into this podcast. Each week, we enjoy bringing you the news. Don't forget if you've got a manuscript for a research paper, you'd like to put that into an international recognized journal? Please think of the Mass Timber Construction Journal. We'd be very pleased to review your manuscript. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, wherever you are in the world today, this is Paul Kramer signing off on the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. Thank you.