As mass timber pushes into more project types, contractors and advocates are pursuing its inclusion in designs for one of the few construction sectors showing growth: health care.

Mass timber has long been used in office buildings and residential structures as supporters credit it for appealing aesthetics, faster tilt-up times, and competitive costs and performance. Health care is a tougher sector to crack, with strict code requirements for hospitals and unique considerations related to patient health.

Yet those hurdles have done little to dissuade mass-timber backers, who see a growing health-care sector that comprises one-sixth of the $30 trillion U.S. economy while commercial real estate has pulled back dramatically.

“We’re going to see more (mass-timber) projects that are health care, and we’re going to see larger portions of the projects that are mass timber,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication at Skanska, one of the large contractors working with the material.

Health care was a central topic at this week’s International Mass Timber Conference in Portland. Lewis covered health care as an emerging market for mass timber, while University of Oregon researcher Mark Fretz discussed “Mass Timber in Health Care and Infection Control.”

It makes sense for contractors and other industry insiders to pursue health care projects, said Iain Macdonald, director of the Tallwood Design Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University‘s colleges of forestry and engineering, and the UO College of Design.

“Commercial is kind of a stagnant construction sector, and life sciences is one that’s growing,” he said.

While clients continue to rely on traditional concrete-and-steel construction for key hospital functions, the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and similar products in health care facilities is growing.

On the Oregon Coast, ZGF Architects‘ design for the Columbia Memorial Hospital expansion in Astoria uses mass timber for the entryway’s roof and other structural elements. The 183,000-square-foot facility will also include safe refuge areas in the event of a tsunami and acute care patient rooms on upper floors. The expanded hospital is slated to open in 2027.

The foyer of the new St. Charles Cancer Center in Redmond, a 53,000-square-foot facility that will open later this month, is made from mass timber.

The University of Oregon’s $71 million Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a 54,000-square-foot building under construction in Portland and designed by ZGF, will feature mass timber extensively, as does a $47 million building designed by Hacker for Mosaic Community Health in Bend.

In Lakewood, Washington, a behavioral health facility designed by HOK topped out in March.

“The mass-timber design serves a number of goals,” Loren Supp, HOK’s design principal in Seattle, stated in a news release. “It highlights the natural beauty of western Washington and its evergreen forests. It reinforces the state’s commitment to environmentally friendly design, and it creates a warm and calming environment that benefits well-being.”

Advocates point to the well-studied psychological benefits of inhabiting timber buildings. UO researchers last year published a study finding CLT had fewer viable bacteria than a plastic sample. The researchers also found that volatile organic compounds in CLT decreased over time.

Industry and UO researchers are studying the possibilities for expanding use of mass timber in hospitals.

“You’re not going to have it in the (operating rooms), but there are distinct advantages to having it in patient rooms, waiting areas and that sort of thing,” Macdonald said.

Industry officials are also studying mass timber’s potential for other uses, including warehouses, data centers and military bases.

Portland has long been the epicenter of mass-timber construction in the United States. Portland is home to notable projects such as the Mississippi Building, an all-wood office structure designed by Waechter Architecture; the 12-story Julia West House, designed by Holst Architecture; and Carbon12, an eight-story mixed-use building designed by Kaiser + Path.

Extensive use of CLT in the new Portland International Airport terminal marked a new chapter for mass timber in major public projects. And even some never-built concepts, including Framework and the Spar, led to important research for building tall wood structures.

In health care, Skanska’s Lewis said clients don’t need to be persuaded — they’re eager to build with mass timber.

“A lot of the clients, especially in the Pacific Northwest, harken back to our affinity for wood,” Lewis said.

Clients point to sustainability and valuing the experience of being inside the building.

“It seems like the ones that want to do timber are really invested in trying to create a space that they feel is above what they’ve seen in the market,” Lewis said.

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A new building for intensive psychiatric support of children is in the works. The single-story, 10,375-square-foot building will be located on Trillium Family Services‘ 13-acre Southeast Portland campus, at 3415 S.E. Powell Blvd.

The Whole Person Psychiatric Residential Treatment Building will be the campus’ first addition constructed from the ground up since the early 1990s. The building will hold 12 inpatient treatment beds for children, allowing Trillium Family Services to expand its care. It will be located between Trillium’s academic building and its healing garden.

The building will be a wood-framed structure with fiber cement siding and a metal roof.

TVA Architects designed the project for Trillium Family Services. The project team also includes civil engineer KPFF, structural engineer Catena Consulting Engineers, landscape architect Ground Workshop, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer Interface Engineering, and general contractor Fortis Construction.

TVA Architects previously designed for Trillium two inpatient buildings at the Children’s Farm Home campus in Corvallis. Tim Wybenga, a TVA principal, said staffers spoke with some of the kids who have stayed in these facilities to learn which elements were important to them. Ample access to daylight was a high priority.

“A lot of times, the solution to prevent breakage of windows is to minimize or remove windows,” Wybenga said. “We’ve found access to views to nature and daylight being so important, so we’ve been more strategic in how we’ve configured the windows.”

Trauma-informed design principles were used to ensure access to nature. All bedrooms will face existing trees and overlook the healing garden. Plus, a greenhouse and a rock maze at the back edge of the property are in a buffer area between the campus and a residential neighborhood. The palette for materials will include earth tones, greens and blues.

“There’s this beautiful garden space where kids are working in the dirt and growing things,” Trillium Family Services CEO Jamie Vandergon said, adding that the kids host a small farmer’s market every year.

The building will serve the entire campus and include therapy rooms for individuals, groups, and families; collaborative staff work areas; and play-based therapeutic amenities such as a sensory playroom, secure outdoor areas, and a gross motor kitchen for children to practice making meals.

There will also be spaces for partner agencies’ physicians and occupational or physical therapists. One partner, Neurotherapeutic Pediatric Therapies, weighed in on the design of an occupational therapy space that will include yoga balls and mats as well as aerial silk swings that provide compression. There will also be a primary care suite, which will likely be staffed by Trillium’s partners.

A large multipurpose room will accommodate indoor play, special programs, movie nights or different therapeutic activities in a group setting, Wybenga said.

“Your environment has so much to do with your healing,” Vandergon said. “Creating a brand-new trauma-informed healing environment for kids in crisis is such a tremendous benefit to the care we provide and to the kids.”

The intent of the design is to provide life enrichment for kids and visiting families, Wybenga said. Each of the 12 treatment spaces will have an adjacent room for family members to visit children in safe spaces.

Staff will have their own spaces to meet or decompress both inside the building and around the campus to either meet or decompress from challenging situations.

Trillium does a lot for kids throughout Oregon, Wybenga said, adding that it is meaningful to be a part of this project.

The total project cost is $15.1 million, which includes finishes and furniture. The project is fully funded and includes $13.1 million from Oregon’s Coordinated Care Organizations and an additional $2 million from one of those CCOs – CareOregon.

Construction of the new building is expected to start early next year and finish in late spring 2027.

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at projects in Oregon and Southwest Washington being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ reporter Hilary Dorsey at hdorsey@djcOregon.com.

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