Page 13 - Georgia Forestry - Winter 2018

In 2015, Project^, a Portland-based developer, was awarded $1.5 million dollars as one of two winning projects in the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Com- petition, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council. The project, called Framework, is a 12-story high-rise retail space that includes offices and apartment-style housing. When completed, the development will be the tallest wood building in the U.S.
The funding was earmarked for the research and testing required to obtain building permits for the development. That’s where the university system comes in.
In July 2015, the Oregon State Legislature dedicated $29.7 million in state bonds to the
construction of OSU’s 85,000-square-foot Forest Science Complex — which will include a classroom and laboratory building and a 20,000-square- foot Advanced Wood Products Laboratory to test CLT products. Third-generation forest products company Sierra Pacific would later donate another $6 million to the laboratory, which will include computer-controlled and robotic manufacturing systems and a large structural testing facility.
The Forest Science Complex will also be the home to the TallWood Design Institute, a unique collaboration between OSU’s School of Forestry and the University of Oregon’s Architectural School. The institute brings together expertise in architecture, wood science and engineering from both universities to help position Oregon
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