Mass Timber Schools
For the wellbeing of students, teachers, administrators across Washington, we are working to establish mass timber as the default choice for K-12 school construction in Washington and nationally. This accelerator is designed to: (1) enable school districts in Washington, and nationally, to confidently say yes to building new facilities with mass timber, and (2) reduce friction during the project delivery process.
Our vision: 50 school districts committing to mass timber by 2028, and 50 new mass timber school projects underway by 2038.
The Journey - Identify | Distill | Engage | Share
- Identify the real barriers and concerns to building mass timber schools.
- Distill learning from the 200+ education projects already completed in the U.S.
- Develop a comprehensive strategy to engage WA school districts.
- Build a community of problem solvers, facilitators and ambassadors.
- Create a suite of open-source iterative resources.
- Collect and disseminate evidence based, peer reviewed performance data.
- Deliver a statewide strategy to make mass timber the default choice for schools.
Partners
LSW Architects | Mahlum Architects | Mithun | Skanska | Riff Creative | Washington State Department of Commerce
Projects
Short Film
MASSTAC is producing an emotionally resonant and intellectually compelling short film that introduces mass timber schools to parents and communities, positioning mass timber as a smart, human-centered choice for future school construction.
Symposium
In Fall 2025, MASSTAC will convene 100+ representatives from school districts across Washington to explore the opportunity for building new educational facilities from regionally sources mass timber, and best practices for smooth project delivery.
Funding
MASSTAC is committing $100k in seed funding in 2025 and seeking $500k for 2025 from like-minded partners interested in a 3-year (2025-2028) commitment totaling $1.5m to design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive ‘Mass Timber Schools Accelerator Strategy.’
Acoustic Testing for Washington School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth
This report summarizes acoustic testing at the Washington School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WSD) conducted by LSTN Consultants (Denis Blount and Leah Guszkowski) on Thursday, January 2, 2025. Detailed test reports are attached as appendices to this document. The intent of the testing was to measure the in-situ acoustic performance of various mass timber floor-ceiling assemblies throughout the campus’ newly completed facilities. The building was designed by Mithun (architect), PCS Structural Solutions (structural engineer) and A3 Acoustics (acoustic consultant).
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