Essay: Timber Construction Returns to the City

Originally a warehouse, Butler Square in Minneapolis (Harry Wild Jones 1908) is today still one of the largest timber buildings in North America. When converted into an office building the skeleton frame structure with Douglas fir columns up to 61 cm thick was left exposed for the most part.
Currently multi-storey timber construction is experiencing something of a renaissance all around the globe. A sizable part of this upswing is, quite literally, hidden from view. Despite regional differences, the motors that drive development and the obstacles that hinder it are similar in many places, as the following look at the situation in Canada, England and Scandinavia reveals.
Originally a warehouse, Butler Square in Minneapolis (Harry Wild Jones 1908) is today still one of the largest timber buildings in North America. When converted into an office building the skeleton frame structure with Douglas fir columns up to 61 cm thick was left exposed for the most part.