{"id":372146,"date":"2026-04-03T01:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/372146\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T01:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:15:13","slug":"pavilion-in-oregon-challenges-the-logic-of-mass-timber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/372146\/","title":{"rendered":"Pavilion in Oregon “challenges the logic” of mass timber"},"content":{"rendered":"

US architecture studio Lake Flato<\/a> and engineering firm Structurecraft have experimented with dowel-laminated timber for a pavilion<\/a> at the Mass Timber Conference in Oregon.<\/p>\n

Lake Flato<\/a> and Structurecraft<\/a> collaborated on the pavilion, which utilises dowel-laminated timber (DLT). Originally engineered<\/a> in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, DLT has become more popular in the US market in the last decade.<\/p>\n

“The installation introduces a bending-active shell system formed from dowel-laminated timber (DLT), which challenges the rectilinear logic that has defined mass timber construction for decades,” said Lake Flato.<\/p>\n

\"LakeLake Flato and Structurecraft collaborated on a mass-timber pavilion in Oregon<\/p>\n

As with the more popular mass-timber<\/a> products, glued-laminated timber and cross-laminated timber, DLT uses softwood held together by a hardwood dowel, creating panels that can bend flatwise. It is an alternative to rigid mass-timber slabs.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t use nails, it doesn’t use glue,” Lake Flato associate partner Ryan Yaden told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“It only uses friction between wood. And that’s what was really enticing for us, why we really gravitated to it. We’re trying to reduce the impact on the environment.”<\/p>\n

\"LakeIt features innovations in dowel-laminated timber<\/p>\n

The effect is an incredibly flexible panel that can be used for flooring and for ceilings, and, as the technology progresses, can potentially be used for more structural applications.<\/p>\n

“It’s almost like fabric, but once it’s put together in certain ways, it becomes extremely rigid,” said Yaden. “It just drapes into place and then locks together.”<\/p>\n

\"LakeThe panels are flexible before being fitted together, where they become rigid<\/p>\n

Lake Flato worked with a proprietary dowel model from Structurecraft to create the 20-by-30-foot (six-by-nine-metre) pavilion. It featured standard two-by-four slats and was shipped flat before being assembled.<\/p>\n

Once shaped into the wavy forms, the walls were fitted into pre-routed tracks on the ceiling element, which has straps and plywood on top to create extra rigidity.<\/p>\n

“Mass timber is no longer flat,” Structurecraft VP and head of engineering Lucas Epp told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“Our structural concept takes flat-packed mass timber panels and drapes them into curves on site to create shell action, greatly increasing structural efficiency,” he continued. “This is the first time a bending-active system has been created with timber enabling shells.”<\/p>\n

\"LakeThe panel elements were flat-packed and shipped<\/p>\n

On one side, the flexibility of the material is demonstrated by a door that swings out.<\/p>\n

Yaden said that the structure presents both biophilic elements and a demonstration of physics meant to draw in people, and that the studio wanted to show the technology could be scalable.<\/p>\n

“I think there’s something very seductive about the way these forms come together, in the physics of structure, that people naturally gravitate towards,” said Yaden. “It’s a balance of practicality and surprise that makes people want to engage more meaningfully.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Anthony<\/p>\n

The top 10 mass-timber buildings of 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Lake Flato and Structurecraft have used DLT in the past for a hotel building in Austin.<\/p>\n

Photographs show a smiling Kengo Kuma<\/a>, a well-known Japanese architect, interacting with the pavilion on the showroom floor at the conference.<\/p>\n

\"KengoAn enthusiastic Kengo Kuma was spotted interacting with the bendable door. Photo by Balazs Bognar<\/p>\n

Mass timber continues to be innovated on as building codes around the country change to accommodate it.<\/p>\n

Recently, Studio Gang completed a mass-timber educational building at Harvard<\/a>, while Grafton Architects completed one with an angular roof in Arkansas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mass Timber Conference took place from 31 March to 1 April in Portland, Oregon. For more international events in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US architecture studio Lake Flato and engineering firm Structurecraft have experimented with dowel-laminated timber for a pavilion at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46,178775,27158,20939,20057,448,449,2586],"class_list":{"0":"post-372146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-lake-flato","17":"tag-mass-timber","18":"tag-oregon","19":"tag-pavilions","20":"tag-sectionall","21":"tag-sectionarchitecture","22":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}