Part of the Oregon Forest Science Complex (OFSC) at OSU’s College of Forestry, the Emmerson Advanced Wood Products lab is a world-class structural testing and advanced manufacturing facility dedicated to furthering research, innovation, and collaboration in the mass timber space.
Completed in 2019, The A.A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory is a world-class timber engineering facility dedicated to applied research in advanced timber fabrication and structural performance of large timber buildings. The facility serves as the headquarters for TallWood Design Institute, a unique research partnership focusing on advanced timber construction, and was designed to facilitate advancements in timber construction through applied research, product development, testing, and professional education. The laboratory houses two distinct technical functions: large-scale structural testing and advanced timber manufacturing.
If you’ve been by the Emmerson Lab lately, you’ve noticed things look a bit different than usual. In December 2025, construction crews’ broke ground near the north end of the lab, laying the foundation for the future Fire Testing laboratory.
Fire safety is a critical aspect of building design. Recent building code revisions provide new prescriptive pathways for high rise construction, but many mass timber designs still fall outside of the limits of these codes. Additionally, most permitting agencies, architects, structural engineers, and contractors remain relatively inexperienced with mass timber construction.
There is a clear need for comprehensive fire testing data on mass timber building assemblies to give regulators and practitioners the knowledge and confidence to use these materials safely and cost-competitively. 
Concurrent to the construction happening in Corvallis, the University of Oregon is also building a new testing facility, an acoustic lab for testing mass-timber floor-to-ceiling assemblies at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 2.
