Design
Nashville Zoo Hammerkopf Renderings: Concept renderings renderings for visitor viewing structure designed by Brinker Gates Architects, and engineered by MLA Engineers
Athey Creek Middle School:
Athey Creek Middle School: WholeTrees has been tasked with the selective harvest and design of on-site trees for an upcoming Middle School to be used as decorative trees, slabs and shelving.
Architect: IBI Group
Chambers & Highland Park:
WholeTrees worked with the trailbuilding group, Avid Trails, to fabricate and furnish a series of natural play structures for all ages.
Designer: Avid Trails
Drawings by WholeTrees
Production
Children's Museum of Eau Claire: Fabricators at American Pole and Timber work diligently to get trusses ready to ship to Eau Claire for installation.
Install
Children's Museum of Eau Claire: We couldn't be more excited to see the Children's Museum of Eau Claire to be installed. Thousands of hours of work brought us to this point and we look forward to showing off the final product soon.
Architect: Steinberg Hart
GC: Market&Johnson
Engineer: ERA
Engineer: KPFF
Naytahwaush Health Center: WholeTrees is proud to partner with DSGW Architects to produce an entrance structure and interior atrium installation for the White Earth Nation’s health center in Naytahwaush, MN. These massive Doug Fir trees come from Port Blakely farms in the Pacific Northwest and simply dwarf our production team in comparison.
Architect: DSGW
GC: White Earth Builders
Engineer: Engineering Ventures
Travel
International Mass Timber Conference: Amelia, Timm , Jason and Chelsea all convened at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland in April for the wildly successful International Mass Timber Conference. This event continues to be the place to be when talking about Mass Timber. A large turnout led to great connections and a great time was had by all!
Amelia and Jason visit Kasters Kustom Woodworking: When in the Pacific Northwest for a conference, Amelia took the opportunity to travel with Jason to tour the fabrication capabilities of SHT in this region. We look forward to continuing to find regional partners across the US.
When in LA, Climb a Tree: WholeTrees celebrated Arbor Day 2022 with this image of our CEO taking a moment to climb a beautiful tree while on spring break with her kids in Los Angeles.
When in Portland, visit the Columbia River Gorge: A few of Chelsea's favorite views from a day trip along the Columbia River and detour to the Timberline Lodge to see Mount Hood after fresh snow.
Visit to American Pole and Timber in Houston: Derek, VP of Operations, has made a few trips to Houston to put eyes on the Children's Museum of Eau Claire's progress. Jason was also able to visit and see Port Blakely timbers in the process of making their way to Eau Claire.
Westby visit: While the Madison team makes semi-regular trips to Westby, we don't always capture photos of what goes on behind the scenes. Teamwork across locations can be a challenge, but connecting in person is a treat!
Current Events in the Wood World and WholeTrees in the News
Welcome New Team Members: The WholeTrees team is growing! We're happy to welcome new Sales Manager Jeremy Crowther, Senior Project Manager Joel Turino and Project Manager Brad Crary to our talented crew.
Port Blakely's Jason Dorn published in Western Forester: The Winter 2022 issue of the SAF Western Forester, featuring an article about sourcing logs for WholeTrees. The article starts on Page 4.
MAIA publishes article about SRT by Greg Cabral: Greg got to present to the WMAIA this year and an article about SRT and OMTM is featured above.
Sierra Institute Specifies WholeTrees in their study of Mass Timber Products: The Sierra Institutes' "Mass Timber and Other Innovative Wood Products in California" 2021 publication singled-out SRT and WholeTrees in section 1.2.6.2 (page 14).
Structure Magazine article: Anatomy of a High Capacity Timber Connection : "The following discussion explains some of the issues related to the physical properties of timbers and how they impact the design process. For a project such as this, buying an 18- x 18-inch timber off the shelf is not customary. The author’s firm, Stonewood Structural Engineers, worked directly with the contractor and lumber broker to source the timber and a mill which has on-site graders to get the right timber to meet the specifications." This article was written by Scott Nyseth, PE, SE , the president of Stonewood Structural Engineers in Portland, OR
MIT Researcher publishes study about the strong connection in forked trees: It looks like MIT Research from Associate Professor Caitlin Mueller is confirming what we know at WholeTrees : "Forks in tree trunks and branches are exceptionally strong, yet they are rejected in timber construction because they are not straight. MIT researchers have developed an approach that enables architects to use discarded tree forks as load-bearing joints in their structures. Using digital and computational methods, the MIT process distributes a collection of discarded tree forks among the Y-shaped nodes in an architectural design, allocating them so as to maximize the use of the inherent strength in the wood fiber—and reallocating them instantly if the architect changes the design geometry. Computer-driven robotic machining adjusts and marks the forks for easy assembly with straight wooden elements. Using recovered material from felled city trees, the MIT team used this process to create part of a wooden pavilion destined for installation at the site of the felled trees.by "
ECHO22: Richard and Jeremy will be representing WholeTrees as Sponsors and presenters in Mid May. We look forward to connecting with the Zoo communities while we attend this action packed event.
Timbatec's New Galilei Tower; Heureka, Zürich-Brunau (1991): "The round 12-story exhibition tower made of timber, diameter and height 50 m each, formed the opposite pole to the high-tech tents of the exhibition. A skeleton with circular masts and semicircular pliers was chosen as the main supporting structure. For the connection of the pliers, it was necessary to develop a new type of heavy-duty connecting material, which had to meet high demands with requirements such as load-bearing capacity, flexibility (round timber) and favorable procurement. Timber can certainly be used for more than just archaic buildings, yet here it was the welcome backdrop for a historical research exhibition." Read more here