Page 12 - Georgia Forestry - Winter 2018

D.R. JOHNSON LUMBER COMPANY
CLT architectural systems offer high strength and
the structural simplicity needed for cost-effective buildings. Most components will be assembled off-site, which saves on cost and time for installment.
opened in the fall of 2016 and is one of the first mul- tistory buildings in the state to be built with CLT.
“As with a lot of good ideas, once we showed the public that [CLT] could be produced in Oregon, it grabbed the attention of a lot of innovative people in architecture, engineering and design,” Johnson said. “It was then that we started to realize the true market potential.”
The environmental and sustainability aspects of mass timber are attractive to investors, developers and architects in the region.
“There is a sustainability ethos that exists here that probably also exists in other parts of the country, but it is strong here,” Tim Locke, director of forest products with Oregon Forest Resources Institute, said. “Oregon has prided itself as being
a leader in environmentalism, in general, and so what this product brings to the table really is something for everyone — sustainability, renew- ability, rural development, creativity, naturalism and more.”
Becoming an Epicenter
for Mass Timber
With an established CLT manufacturer, known demand for the product and the ability to permit mass timber buildings, Oregon was on its way to becoming an epicenter for mass timber. From 2015 to 2016, the vision for a skyline painted in wood would come to life.
10 | GEORGIA FORESTRY