A new five-story Silicone Slope office building opens as the largest demonstration of mass-timber construction in Utah.
In concrete and steel office buildings, it has been prestigious to have a wood-paneled office. The paneling seeks to reclaim a sense of spending time in a natural environment while at work. Then why aren’t offices built with wood?
I have been part of conversations about why we don’t build more with wood, and that lead to an interest in following the move to mass timber construction that I first started seeing in Europe about 20 years ago.
There are now 18-story mass timber buildings in Norway and Vancouver. Not to be outdone in Utah, the Boyer Group hired Method Studio, Okland Construction, and BHB Structural Engineers to design and build Baltic Pointe, a mid-rise south of Salt Lake in an area known as Silicone Slopes using mass timber elements.
The mass timber manufacturing process bonds together wood in layers in a manner that increases compression and tensioned strength. It can be made into planks, post, beams and structural elements for floors, walls, and roofs. Since the manufacturing process occurs in factories, there is far less on-site construction waste. The manufacturers state that they use wood pieces that could very easily be discarded unless combined in this process.
The five-story Baltic Pointe building has above-grade parking at the first level, a second parking level below, and to the east is an outdoor terrace with pickle ball courts and a parking lot. The building is on a sloping lot in an area with strong winds, demonstrated by the hang-gliders frequently seen aloft. The design combined mass timber with steel bracing to meet seismic codes while not inhibiting windows to maximize daylight and views.
Carbon dioxide emissions from the building industry are attributed to make up 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, a substantial amount. Steel and concrete are heated to high temperatures during manufacture, leading to their manufacturing to comprise five percent of global emissions. Mass timber supplants concrete and timber, and the carbon remains sequestered in wood, combining to make it an environmentally desirable approach eligible for tax incentives. Mass timber weighs less than steel and concrete, and it is reported that it has superior fire resistance.
I will show you first the entries from the first and third levels from the exterior, and in the next two shots, show you the same spaces from the inside.
The ground floor entrance connects to the upper level of parking and to the south-side parking area. The glass entrance reaches to the third level, where the top of the entrance structure is a patio.
In the second shot, I am standing on the patio on the roof of the entrance and looking to a walkway along the third level that leads east to a bridge over the outdoor terrace and pickleball courts and to an upper parking lot.
Coming into the building on the ground floor, one is met with the warmth of wood in the stairway, beams, and ceiling.
From the third floor, looking across is the terrace connected to the walkway, and looking downward, the stairs lead to the second floor where HB Workspaces is establishing its new headquarters, and to the first-floor entrance.
The mass timber elements were fabricated to exact specifications by Kalesnikoff in a 110,000-square-foot plant in Canada and delivered by truck.
On the fifth floor is the reception desk for Pelion, a venture capital group who, attracted by the building’s environmental consciousness, has established its headquarters there.
Across from the reception desk is a waiting area.
In Pelion’s executive conference room, you can see the timber structural elements.
At a hallway confluence, the mountain views can be appreciated from the glass conversation room and the adjacent casual relaxation area with a refreshment bar.
In discussing this project, the Boyer Company references the use of natural materials and Biophillic Design, where productivity, concentration, and overall physical and mental health improve with natural elements.
The airy and spacious cafeteria is not just a place for meals, but also for informal meetings and collaborations. The riser seating is a popular space to work solo with a laptop, but also provides seating for a presentation. The ductwork and piping had to remain exposed, and care was taken install it sensitively.
Winter is an interesting time to take architectural photographs. While I would be the first to acknowledge the beauty and importance of landscape in architecture, without leafy plants, the focus becomes much more on how the building meets the sky. As an architect friend once told me, that’s the true test of architecture.
Also, I feel the time of day becomes more important for the photographs. As the sky takes on more importance in the photo, it’s key to wait for the right sky and light.
See more exclusive galleries by Scot Zimmerman here.
