This is the third of four episodes in ArchitectChats' "Timber On the Rise" series that will introduce you to the innovators who are taking wood structural systems to new heights.

Thomas Robinson
Thomas Robinson

Timber innovations and projects are slowly garnering more support in the United States as forward-thinking architects prioritize research and proposals for construction using cross-laminated timber (CLT), glue-laminated timber, and dowel-laminated timber.

Founder of Portland, Ore.–based Lever Architecture, Thomas Robinson, AIA, is at the forefront of this movement, and made headlines in 2015 when his proposal for a 12-story, CLT, mixed-use Framework building won the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Softwood Lumber Board and Binational Softwood Lumber Council trade groups. Since then, Robinson and his team have worked to turn this proposal into a reality. In June, the project was finally permitted to begin construction and is expected to be completed in 2018. In this episode, ARCHITECT talks to Robinson about the challenges when construction innovation outpaces codes and the benefits of working in the firm's self-designed CLT office building, Albina Yard (hint: its all about the aroma).

Albina Yard
Courtesy Lever Architecture Albina Yard

This episode of ArchitectChats was brought to you by reThink Wood, and produced by Lauren Honesty, Dan Tayag, and Katharine Keane.