Research on Engineering, Architecture & Construction of Timber Structures
Collaborative R&D
Launched by TDI in 2020, REACTS (Research on Engineering, Architecture & Construction of Timber Structures) is an industry-led research consortium with membership spanning the AEC and manufacturing communities. Members are united by a common passion: advancing the knowledge and practices surrounding wood design and construction through collaborative R&D. All REACTS research is made publicly available 18 months after completion.
For general inquiries, please contact parker.akkerman@oregonstate.edu
With inquiries about membership, please contact iain.macdonald@oregonstate.edu
REACTS Members
After much success bringing mass timber buildings to life, Swinerton decided to invest in starting TimberLab, a Swinerton company. TimberLab provides engineering, detailing, procurement, and fabrication services to produce complete timber material packages ready for install.
DCI Engineers has been providing client-focused structural and civil engineering services for over three decades. With 22 offices in 10 states, DCI employs over 350 of the most dedicated technical and support staff in the industry. Our cross-office collaboration and ability to work on projects all over the country is what makes our portfolio so strong and puts our staff at the center of innovation.
Founded in 1940, Degenkolb Engineers’ practice reflects more than eight decades of commitment to expertise, client service, and life-long learning. Our award-winning structural designs saved clients hundreds of millions of dollars and are delivered taking full advantage of our expertise and experience. Our employees are passionate about working in collaborative environments helping our healthcare, higher education, advanced technology, construction, and federal clients achieve outstanding project results. We deliver customized structural solutions that meet every project need whether those needs are meeting stringent codes, meeting a bottom line, sticking to a hard construction schedule, or developing a structural system that creates a landmark.
DLR Group is an integrated design firm delivering architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, and building optimization for new construction, renovation, and adaptive reuse. Our promise is to elevate the human experience through design. This promise inspires sustainable design for a diverse group of public and private sector clients; local communities; and our planet. DLR Group is 100 percent employee-owned and fully supports the initiatives and goals of the 2030 Challenge, and is an initial signatory to the China Accord and the AIA 2030 Commitment.
FFA Architecture & Interiors Inc.
FFA Architecture and Interiors is a full-service design firm providing award-winning expertise in architecture, planning, and interior design. Since 1956, our practice has been focused on developing architecture that is timeless, beautiful, and sustainable. FFA is proud of this tradition and its legacy of thoughtful, contextual projects throughout the Pacific Northwest region.
Freres Engineered Wood is a premier wood products manufacturing company dedicated to bringing innovative, high-quality and environmentally-sound wood products to market. Founded in 1922, Freres is one of the oldest family-owned and operated businesses in Oregon, and values the personal relationships it has developed with customers and partners over the years. Today, Freres’ operations include finished plywood, lumber, veneer, and structural composite lumber, Mass Ply products, biochar, and a cogeneration facility that supplies renewable power for the local areas.
Holmes is an international design firm with employees around the Pacific Rim. We believe projects become great by what you put into them. With inspired practicality, we reconcile the complex, competing interests, and constraints, providing not just engineering but optimal solutions. In this way, we create more meaningful, integrated designs as a collaborative process in the vital pursuits of building great things. Holmes US offers structural engineering, fire & life safety/code consulting, and product testing to our clients.
Path Architecture + Kaiser Group Inc.
Kaiser + Path is the combination of Kaiser Group and Path Architecture, based in Portland, Oregon. Kaiser Group focuses on building development, construction, and property management. Path Architecture is our architectural side. While two separate entities, roles, and responsibilities cross freely between the two, allowing all Kaiser + Path members to be involved in all aspects of a project – from inception to building operations, and give us a crystal-clear view of all project dynamics from financial, constructability and asset management. We are pioneers in the mass timber movement, beginning in earnest with the Radiator Building in North Portland in 2013, followed by Carbon 12 and most recently the Canyons. Intermixed along the way have been several mass timber consulting projects.
As North America’s most advanced, vertically integrated, multi-species mass timber manufacturer, Kalesnikoff offers a high degree of flexibility in products and services.The unique slow growth environment of our forests, in Canada’s beautiful West Kootenay mountains, allow us to harvest some of the highest quality fine-grained fibre in the world.
By leveraging our production facilities with our integrated timber supply, we’re able to manage products, reduce waste, and optimize value in our natural resources. All the way from seedlings to solutions. Our Team’s flexibility and creativity permits us to offer a variety of products in both custom and standard sizes. Through our state-of-the-art 110,000 sf plant, we produce efficient, responsible and safe Cross-Laminated Timber panels (CLT), Glue-Laminated Timber panels (GLT), and Glulam beams that are innovating traditional building practices.
KPFF is a collaborative and creative team of engineers who thrive on designing innovative solutions for projects of all scales. Founded in 1960 and now with over 20 office locations, KPFF’s focus is to serve clients by providing cost-efficient and valuable contributions to the built environment. The firm’s experience encompasses everything from new high-rise buildings to complex historic renovations. KPFF is a leader in building with mass timber and has utilized the material on a range of new projects, helping to pave the way for broader adoption and bringing specialized knowledge of this material to project teams.
LEVER is a leading architectural practice recognized for design excellence and material innovation. From offices in Portland and Los Angeles, LEVER collaborates with communities, institutions, and creative companies to design buildings and spaces that elevate human experience.
Mackenzie’s dynamic and inviting culture is a reflection of everything we’ve created together, our diversity as a group, and over 60 years of shared experience, growth, and evolution. It’s what we, as a collective, are most proud of. Our diverse perspectives make our projects better, our teams stronger, and our lives richer. We do great work while making a difference in our people’s lives and the lives of people in our communities, and we believe this mix of hard work, intentional practice, and fun sets us apart.
MiTek Inc. and its subsidiaries are a globally operating company organized in five divisions that serve the residential business segment (APAC, EMEA, Residential North America, Automation Solutions [including TBS Engineering], and Services) and four divisions that serve the commercial business segment (Commercial Builder Products, Mechanical Solutions, Mezzanine Systems, and Structural Framing).
Rothoblaas, a global company from the Italian Alps, is a leading creator of high technology solutions for heavy and mass timber, energy-efficient, net-zero, and other better building practice sectors. The Rothoblaas range of products covers fasteners and connectors, building envelope and acoustic solutions, worker safety, and tools. By utilizing Rothoblaas standardized components, design professionals create economies of scale and cost-effective processes resulting in fewer labor costs, reduced energy usage plus safe and efficiently built buildings. With innovation at its core, Rothoblaas and its partners push the boundaries on all stages of the design and construction process.
SRG was founded nearly 50 years ago on a simple idea: partnership as both our name and an attitude that shapes everything we do. Partnerships define how we engage our clients, how we work with each other, and how we build our teams. Our NW roots contribute to this outlook through a deep appreciation for the natural beauty that surrounds us and a pioneering spirit that drives us forward. This attitude is expressed in our work – a design that is inventive, deeply sustainable, and based on the best ideas to achieve our clients’ highest aspirations. Our offices in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon both feature a light-filled, design-studio environment that supports inclusive communication, integration of disciplines, and shared learning. With 75 employees, we are both nimble and able to tackle projects of any scale. We embrace a wide range of different perspectives in our culture and our work, which leads to new and innovative ways of thinking, and ultimately, to better design. Our experience has shown that by working together we can invent a better future.
StructureCraft is a structural engineering and construction firm specializing in timber and hybrid-timber structures; they have been engineering and building efficient, signature structures for architects, owners, and general contractors in North America and Asia for over 20 years. They accomplish this by bringing the old-world tradition of master craftsmanship to the new world of high-tech engineered timber construction. Seen as industry leaders in the “mass timber revolution”, they answer the pressing need for increased quality and construction efficiency, while at the same time reducing site erection time and risk. StructureCraft specialties include mass timber buildings, long-span structures, and complex geometry projects.
Thornton Tomasetti optimizes the design and performance of structures, materials, and systems for projects of every size and level of complexity. Collaborating from offices worldwide, we apply scientific and engineering principles to solve the world’s challenges. Because we’re committed to being a sustainable and enduring organization and the global driver of innovation in our industry, we’re working to make mass timber a mainstream option for structural and façade systems. By drawing on the diverse expertise of our integrated practices and investing in research, we’re advancing the effectiveness and efficiency of designing with mass timber while achieving architectural excellence.
Walsh Construction has been partnering with mission-driven clients throughout the Pacific Northwest since 1961. A commitment to building community and improving the lives of others have been our guiding forces every since our founding. Our mission is our north star. We partner with people we trust and respect to create the highest-value construction through our focus on clients, service, and culture.
Partnering with owners, architects, developers, and contractors, WSP and their Building Structures group deliver Future Ready buildings that perform well while positively impacting society and the environment. WSP’s collaborative approach helps their clients find solutions that meet their structural needs for new construction, building evaluation, building rehabilitation, facilities engineering, historic preservation, peer review, forensic analysis, and more.
ZGF is an industry leader in sustainable and regenerative design. We embraced sustainable design as a core value long before “green” or “LEED” became common phrases. As stewards of the built environment, our applied research and learnings over the past 70 years allow us to invent new approaches that address urgent climate challenges in complex building types including laboratories, hospitals, learning spaces at colleges and universities, and corporate headquarters.
TDI gratefully acknowledges startup funding support from the USDA Forest Service for our REACTS Consortium initiative.
For more information about the consortium, please contact Parker Akkerman at parker.akkerman@oregonstate.edu.
