Proving Mass Timber in Scalable Housing
Via Emma was selected as a winner of the Mass Timber Competition, a program designed to move mass timber beyond demonstration projects and into repeatable, market-ready construction. By investing in real-world housing developments, the SLB is helping project teams investigate how mass timber performs where it counts most: cost, speed, and scalability. Via Emma was conceived as exactly that kind of test.
Project Overview: Industrialized Construction in Downtown Springdale
Located along Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale, Arkansas, Via Emma is a mixed-use, multi-building development that will ultimately deliver more than 150 residential units along with ground-floor commercial space. The project responds to rapid population growth in Northwest Arkansas while contributing to the revitalization of Springdale’s urban core.
Rather than relying on a single construction method, the project team pursued an industrialized construction strategy across four buildings. Two of the buildings incorporate cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor and roof systems paired with load-bearing light-frame walls, while others use more conventional approaches—creating a built-in comparison across systems, costs, and outcomes.
Why Mass Timber Was Used
Mass timber was selected to support construction speed, architectural quality, and replicability. CLT panels were prefabricated off-site and installed as horizontal structural elements, reducing on-site labor and accelerating framing. In parallel, prefabricated bathroom pods were used in select buildings to further compress schedules and reduce finishing work.
Crucially, Via Emma was structured as a learning project. A traditionally framed building is being delivered alongside the mass timber buildings, allowing the team to directly compare performance, sequencing, and execution in a controlled setting.
“[One] of the positive lessons learned was that the CLT panels actually installed very well, with very few issues, by an inexperienced subcontractor, at a competitive cost.” – Fouad Khalil, Founder & Principal Consultant, Modly
Lessons for the Wood Products Market
Via Emma shows that mass timber can integrate effectively into hybrid, workforce-scale housing. It also highlights where industry processes must mature. Early coordination, procurement strategy, and owner-side readiness proved as important as the material itself.
