Design
Confidential Zoo Project: World renown Zoo that has worked with WholeTrees before has kicked off an intricate lodge design with WholeTrees. The complex design will feature a stunning event space with intricate, biophilic details.
Design: HGW Architecture
GC: WholeTrees Structures
Engineer: KPFF Seattle
Engineer: KPFF San Diego
Production
Epic Stone Cone: This sawn heavy timber structure with steel knife plate connections rises 30' above an entrance way and will be flanked by a curved stone installation. Seen here in transport, manufacturing and staining the Doug fir.
Design: Cunningham
GC: Findorff
Engineer: GRAEF Madison
Installation
FDR Park: Playground design consultant Studio Ludo came to SPEC with a fully accessible and inclusive treehouse concept complete with rope climbing, natural wood, and a massive swing set. SPEC was able to take this vision and work directly with Berliner and WholeTrees to bring this vision to life. The finalized playground includes three separate 25’-35’ tall tree houses, a mega-swing with 20 total swings, embankment slides, log climbers, and spinners. With endless options to practice risk, failure, and mastery, this innovative space is set to open in 2023.
Burkett Farm: Amelia Baxter, CEO, spent some time in North Carolina in early summer of 2023 and stopped by to see the finished Burkett Farm education building and the progress of installation on their solar microgrid. This project brings abundant resources to their community and it's a pleasure to visit.
Architect: REdesign.build
GC: REdesign.build
Engineer: KPFF Seattle
Finished Shots
Naytahwaush: Completed images of the Naytahwaush Health Center, which provides access to care for the members of hte local White Earth tribal community. Building the space with wood allows for natural, biophilic warmth to a healthcare setting.
Architect: DSGW
GC: White Earth Builders
Engineer: Engineering Ventures
Philadelphia Zoo: The Cheetah exhibit structure was designed to promote cheetah perches, and a den to protect the animals from the element. The structure features two massive curved white oak columns that will make the structure soar over the viewing area.
Design: WholeTrees Structures
GC: WholeTrees Structures
Engineer: Engineering Ventures
Blakely Elementary School: Some new images from Mithun of Blakely Elementary in use in Bainbridge Island, WA.
Architect: Mithun
GC: Forma
Engineer: Lund Opsahl
Children's Museum of Eau Claire: WholeTrees has had a long relationship with the Hanifl family, and pictured here, is one of their grandchildren playing in a water feature in the new Children's Musuem of Eau Claire. We love to see the space in use and being enjoyed!
Architect: Steinberg Hart
GC: Market&Johnson
Engineer: ERA
Engineer: KPFF
Burkett Farm: Amelia Baxter, CEO, spent some time in North Carolina in early summer of 2023 and stopped by to see the finished Burkett Farm education building and the progress of installation on their solar microgrid. This project brings abundant resources to their community and it's a pleasure to visit.
Architect: REdesign.build
GC: REdesign.build
Engineer: KPFF Seattle
Chad Erickson Memorial Park: This viewing shelter has been modeled using structural round timber at a local park in La Crosse, WI. It is designed to be accessible for all users to enjoy. See the Current Event Section for an article on this topic below.
Design: WholeTrees Structures
GC: WholeTrees Structures
Engineer: Engineering Ventures
Oregon Zoo Black Bears: The black bears at the Oregon Zoo were welcomed back into their exhibit space, complete with a new viewing structure, platform, and custom "wobble-tree" for an interactive space for the bears to live and play. Black bears can be antisocial, so there are various structures for them to live and shelter from the lovely Portland, OR weather.
Travel
Touson goes to Seattle: In July, West Coast Architectural Sales Manager, Touson Saryon, led several CEU Lunch & Learns for architecture firms in the Pacific Northwest. He weas sure to make a stop at some innovative west coast timber structures on his journey. Locations included decorative columns at a building entrance of the Capital One Cafe , Cool tree sculpture in Seattle Museum of Art lobby, Original Sawn Heavy Timber (SHT) at ARC architect office, SHT at the Hard Rock Cafe, and The Atrium at Pikes Market.
Old Growth Forest Tour: Led by President of Port Blakely US Forestry, Mike Warjone, the Carbon Forest Tour was attended by our own Director of West Coast Sales, Paul Drace.
Visit to Chad Erickson Memorial Park: Project Manager, Aaron Van Loo visits La Crosse with his family to check out WholeTrees' Chad Erickson Memorial Park structure.
Trillium Brewery in Boston: Captured by Touson Saryon while traveling in Boston. A great use of SRT.
Current Events in the Wood World and WholeTrees in the News
Article from Green & Healthy Main Homes: "Tree Trunks fill Demand for Climate-Friendly Wood Products." July 2023.
Grant Funding Announcements & Article: In July, $1M in grants were awarded to WholeTrees to facilitate the expansion of SRT to new geographic areas through a collaborative initiative called Original Mass Timber Maine (OMTMaine). With the awarded grants, the OMTMaine initiative will transform a Maine forest products facility into a fabrication facility for SRT, bringing economic prosperity to the community while supporting sustainable forestry practices.
Inc. 5000 Announcement: On August 15, Inc. Magazine announced that Madison, WI-based WholeTrees Structures is ranked 4031 (8 in Madison, and 98 in manufacturing) for the first time on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
Fischer Park Opening: Fischer Park in New Braunfels was selected as one of the winning projects in the "2021 Niagara Perk Your Park Contest" aimed at revitalizing parks and community spaces. With WholeTrees' biophilic design, children of all ages and abilities can interact directly with nature and experience the natural world in a meaningful way.
Chad Erickson Memorial Park Soft Opening: The Outdoor Recreation Alliance (ORA Trails) hosted a soft opening of the accessible park.
Naytahwaush Health Center Opening: Quilt provided by project partners DSGW Architecture.
University of Arkansas Anthony Timberlands Article: The Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation at the U of A has received two international honors from the World Architecture Festival 2023.
Gensler Designs Udemy Project, Swinerton Office Location: The days of dull cubicle spaces are long gone for Udemy as their new modern office has been refreshed by architects, Gensler. The Udemy office is nestled in the heart of Denver’s LoDo neighborhood, located in a historic building constructed in 1887.
Bentonville Heart of Modern Architecture and Walmart's Mass Timber HQ: The new Walmart campus office buildings are being constructed from mass timber, the latest in precision engineered, design, and construction practices because it is sustainable, efficient and available regionally. With more than 2.4 million square feet of office space constructed from mass timber, Walmart’s new campus is the largest mass timber campus development currently under construction in the United States. Also featured: Bentonville Arkansas Bike Barn for Gravel Bike Ride.
Featured architecture in Forum Holzbau: Auf den Spuren der Dinosaurier Winter Shelter featuring SHT and Round Timber.
Staff Pub Crawl: Madison-based WholeTrees colleagues set out for some summer quality time.
Westby: Team building bags tournament at our Westby location.
Milwaukee Becoming Mass Timber Mecca: Home to the 25-story multifamily project Ascent, which opened in 2022 as the tallest timber-concrete-hybrid structure in the world. More recently, Madison-based sustainability-focused developer. Nate Helbach, Managing Partner, The Neutral Project announced that The Edison, now in design and previously announced as a 15-story, 200-unit mass timber multifamily building, would nearly double in size to 32 stories and 350 units and surpass Ascent’s summit.
Sweden's Wooden City: In an old industrial zone in Stockholm filled with former factory buildings and parking lots, developers are planning to build a “wooden city”—the largest mass-timber development in the world, with 30 wood buildings spanning 25 blocks. “We want to show what is already possible today,” says Annica Ånäs, CEO of Atrium Ljungberg, the development company behind the project.