Bensonwood Builds Huber Innovation Center
As the premier manufacturer of engineered-wood building materials, J. M Huber is at the leading edge of innovative wood technologies. At Bensonwood, we use their Advantech sheathing in all our projects, so when they asked us to collaborate with architect Bill McLees and Dublin Construction Company to design, engineer, fabricate, and assemble the frame of their new R&D facility--called the Huber Innovation Center--we knew it would be an interesting and challenging project.
With a 3,400 square foot open office; a 2,600 square-foot gallery/reception hall; 1,900 square feet of conference and break rooms; and 750 square feet of covered entries, the building's theme serves as a veritable celebration in wood--from its raw and natural form to the innovative beauty of engineered wood materials and building systems.
The open office is framed with five massive braced bents and purlins crafted from glue laminated southern pine and fresh-sawn eastern white pine.
The covered entries feature posts-and-braces crafted in southern and eastern pine. Because the braces branch out in all directions, they leave occupants feeling as though they have entered a grove of trees.
The showpiece of the Center is the gallery/reception hall, with its peeled, 42 in. diameter tree trunk. It forms the central support for trusses spanning 30 to 40 feet. With split top and bottom chords, each truss is made from glue-laminated Ssouthern pine. The vertical compression struts are made of laminated red oak, chosen for its extreme compressive strength.
While Bensonwood normally uses hardwood splines to assemble timber joinery, we used Huber's own Advantech composite wood to craft splines that are strong enough for the wind loads in Georgia.
ARCHITECT: Bill McLees
CONTRACTOR: Dublin Construction Company