CLT Academic Building at UMass Amherst, Massachusetts University Building, Project, USA Architecture, Images
CLT Academic Building at UMass Amherst
Massachusetts University Building, United States of America – design by Leers Weinzapfel Associates
May 2, 2017
CLT Academic Building
Design: Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Leers Weinzapfel Associates Completes America?s First CLT Academic Building at UMass Amherst

New Design Building Unites the Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Building Technology Departments Under One Sustainable Roof

Leers Weinzapfel Associates recently completed the Design Building at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the first Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) academic building in the US and the largest installation of wood concrete composites in North America. The $52M, 87,500-square-foot project, made possible through supplemental funding from the Massachusetts State Legislature, is a dynamic space of exchange, collaboration, and experiment. Uniting the university?s departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, and the Building and Construction Technology program under one roof for the first time, the structure itself is a teaching tool for prescient sustainable design.
The building is organized around a skylit central commons that brings students together for lectures, exhibits, presentations, and informal gatherings. Studios, maker spaces and classrooms surround the central space that opens onto the stre...