Designed to expand the use of mass timber in the United States, the Mass Timber Competition supports innovative projects that highlight mass timber’s application, practicality, commercial viability, and ability to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment. Now in its third cycle, the competition continues to expand lumber’s market share in the high-volume, high-visibility sector of public education.
Funded by the SLB and USDA Forest Service, the Mass Timber Competition is an example of how the alliance between the two organizations continues to unlock innovation across the building sector. Since first formalizing their collaboration through a memorandum of understanding in 2015, the SLB and Forest Service have co-invested nearly $100 million in programs and competitions that expand markets for softwood lumber and position it as a sustainable building solution.
Building Sustainable Schools
The 2025 Mass Timber Competition: Building Sustainable Schools winners were announced on October 29, 2025, at the Mass Timber+ Conference in Boston. The $1.8 million competition had a dedicated focus on K-12 educational environments.
The winning schools—from Oregon to Washington, D.C.—demonstrate mass timber’s ability to deliver measurable benefits: improved student focus, occupant well-being, faster construction timelines, and reduced carbon impact. For SLB investors, the K-12 segment represents one of the most scalable opportunities for growth. The selected designs represent repeatable, code compliant models that can be replicated nationwide.
By integrating biophilic design and sustainable materials, these projects model how wood construction can outperform conventional systems in cost efficiency, durability, and community impact. Each project will share performance data and design insights to accelerate adoption across school districts. Through the Mass Timber Competition, the SLB is not just funding design innovation—it’s expanding demand for softwood lumber in an essential market segment that builds both communities and long-term industry value.
Cleveland High School
Portland, Oregon
This Portland, Oregon, project includes two four-story towers built with acoustic dowel-laminated timber floors and glulam beams and columns.
New Central Maui School
Waikapu, Hawaii
Addressing urgent community needs following the Lahaina wildfire, this school in Waikapu, Hawaii, will use glulam posts and beams supporting mass timber roof framing.
Whittier Elementary School
Washington D.C.
In Washington, D.C., the project team for this mass timber addition will explore substituting the originally planned steel framing with CLT and glulam systems.
Building to Net-Zero Carbon
This competition program selected several winners in 2022 and 2023.
The 2022 and 2023 Mass Timber Competition: Building to Net-Zero Carbon programs were created to help expand the use of mass timber building solutions and support increased employment in advanced wood products design, engineering, construction, supply chain, and manufacturing sectors.
2023 Competition Recap
In October 2023, the SLB and USDA Forest Service announced five winners of the 2023 Mass Timber Competition. The winning projects received funds totaling $2.2 million to demonstrate mass timber’s applications in architectural design and highlight its significant role in reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment. A blog post profiling the five winners can be found on Think Wood.
CODA Detroit
A 95,000-square-foot, five-story mixed-use residential project.
Detroit, Michigan
Project Team: OOMBRA Architects, Brush Park Properties / IN Development Partners, JDH Engineering, Britt Peters and Associates, and AM Higley.
Up@310 Lofts
An overbuild that will add three stories and 57 apartments on top of a steel building.
Keene, New Hampshire
Project Team: Lignin Group, Tim Olson, Banwell Architects, 310 Marlboro St., and Entuitive.
Construction is complete. Read our project recap.
Via Emma
A pilot housing project, consisting of four market-rate and affordable multifamily residential buildings totaling 131 units.
Springdale, Arkansas
Project Team: A226, Blue Crane, Modus Studio, Tatum-Smith-Welcher, Aspect Structural Engineers, Modly, and Arco Construction.
Update: Mass timber structures are complete. See project recap and photos.
The Village SF Wellness Center
A six-story, 45,000-square-foot mixed-use commercial and multifamily project with the goal to reclaim physical and cultural space for urban American Indians.
San Francisco, California
Project Team: PYATOK architecture + urban design, The Friendship House Association of American Indians, DCI Engineers, and Cahill Contractors.
Woolsey Gardens
An eight-story, 59,570-square-foot high-rise multifamily project with commercial space on the first floor and a permanently affordable housing community above.
Berkeley, California
Project Team: Solomon Cordwell Buenz, Northern California Land Trust, Tipping Structural Engineers, Swinerton Builders, and Timberlab.
INTRO Atlanta
A 17-story mass timber tower above a 4-story (above ground) concrete podium. Commercial and mixed use building with 314 residential units.
Atlanta, Georgia
Project team: Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors, Hartshorne Plunkard Architects, and Forefront Structural Engineers.
2022 Competition Recap and Project Updates
In June 2022, the SLB and USDA Forest Service announced the winners of the first competition. Six projects were chosen for their ability to demonstrate mass timber’s innovative, scalable applications in architectural design and to highlight its significant role in reducing the built environment’s carbon footprint. The winning projects, which shared $2 million in total funding, are listed below. A blog post profiling the winners can be found on Think Wood.
Return to Form
12-story multifamily and retail project in Denver, Colorado, which will include affordable housing units.
Denver, Colorado
Project team: Katz Development, Timberlab, KL&A Engineers and Builders, and Tres Birds
Evergreen Charter School
An 89,000-square-foot five-story hybrid CLT education facility with biophilic design elements.
Hempstead, New York
Project team: Martin Hopp Architect, Consigli, and Odeh Engineers
Update: Construction is now complete. See project recap and photos.
INTRO Cleveland — Phase 2
A multifamily high-rise building in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland, Ohio
Project team: Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors, Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, and Forefront Structural Engineers.
Each project pledges to use wood sourced from sustainably managed forests, and many prioritize mass timber that is both domestically harvested and manufactured. Lessons from these projects will be shared with the broader design and construction communities to support project development and replication, including research about cost analyses and life-cycle assessments.