STEM teaching and learning facilities, taken on November 12, 2021.

Students who visit the brand new STEM teaching and learning facilities on the Michigan State University campus may notice that a new and potentially revolutionary technology is used in the construction of the building-wood.

The building was officially unveiled this fall and is partly constructed of large amounts of timber, a relatively new construction material consisting of many thick layers of compressed cork, usually glued together with an adhesive.

The STEM building on campus is the first large-scale wooden structure in Michigan.

Sandra Lupien, the director of MassTimber@MSU, said in an email: "This building was not originally intended to use a lot of wood." "A group of scholars from the Forestry Department and School of Planning, Design and Construction came up with this idea... .. and provide knowledge and resources to support the decision-making process." 

Lupien described the building as a mixture of large amounts of wood and steel.

This material is cost-effective, energy-efficient, and is generally faster to build than more common materials such as concrete and steel. Lupien said those who work in building construction say that having the knowledge and experience of using large amounts of wood at the beginning of the project can shorten the project time by four to eight weeks.

Lupien said that a large amount of wood reacted well in the fire test. During this period, the material is usually burned at high temperatures for two hours, where the outer layer of the wood is charred, but the structural integrity remains in place. 

“In this building in the stair tower, they only need to make five floors, but for fire protection and fire rating, they added two more floors,” Lupien said. "If you have a large wooden structure and there is a fire, some layers of your large timber are charred, theoretically you can remove them and replace them, and then repair it without losing structural integrity. ."

Large amounts of wood also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global climate change. Replacing materials such as concrete and steel with chunks of wood can help offset the emissions-intensive processes required to manufacture them in a number of ways. Using large amounts of wood as a building material also ensures that the carbon, methane, and other gases released by trees when they decompose are not released into the atmosphere.

Lupien said that this material appeared in Austria around the 1980s and 1990s, but it is still new in the United States.

One of the concerns for large amounts of wood is the potential toxicity of the adhesive used to bond the wood layers together. However, Lupien said the benefits of large amounts of wood outweigh the potential risks.

"I have talked to someone I know, he is a green chemist... He told me that in the building, you are not really exposed, most of the chemical waste is reaching yours. It happened before the construction site," Lupien said. "Mainly in the manufacturing process, we also don't like the people who make it. I hope that the factory will take safety measures and protect employees from exposure."

Lupien also said that Michigan State University is studying different types of adhesives made of lignin, a chemical substance extracted from trees.

Lupien said that the wood used in the STEM building is black spruce and has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, an independent non-profit organization that certifies wood based on the sustainability of wood growth and logging. The wood comes from a manufacturer in Quebec called Nordic Structures.

“In fact, Michigan State University and the five project partners that built this building have just won the Forest Stewardship Council Leadership Award because all the forest stewardship council wood was used in the massive amount of wood in this building,” Lupien said.

MassTimber@MSU is a collaborative project between MSU Forestry Department, School of Planning, Design and Construction and MSU Extension. 

"Essentially, what we are doing is investigating the massive timber landscape in Michigan and surrounding areas," Lupien said.

She said the plan seeks out builders who may be interested in using large amounts of wood and will help remove any barriers that builders may face in using materials. Lupien also said that if builders do not consider using large amounts of wood, the plan may use it as an option.

“When we consider a large amount of wood, we are thinking about combining the forest with our built environment,” Lupien said.

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