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Industry & Trends

New Mass Timber Structures at Walmart and Children’s Museum Open

As mass timber building continues to gain popularity two new buildings for two very different uses have opened.

Ever since its founding more than 65 years ago, Walmart has operated out of non-descript and often unassuming offices in its Bentonville, AR hometown. But now the first elements of its new 350-acre campus have opened, including what it says is the largest use of mass timber construction for an office complex in the country. 

Some 700 miles north in Eau Claire, WI, the new Children’s Museum uses its own mass timber building technique for its Douglas Fir trusses as well as 30-foot maple branched atrium columns. Together these two new complexes showcase the latest in mass timber building construction.

In announcing the opening of the first buildings in its office complex the world’s largest retailer wrote on its website, “The new Walmart campus office buildings are being constructed from mass timber, the latest in precision engineered, design and construction practices because it is sustainable, efficient and available regionally.

“With more than 2.4 million square feet of office space constructed from mass timber, Walmart’s new campus is the largest mass timber campus development currently under construction in the United States.”

Walmart said the use of mass timber will also connect workers at the office complex with nature in their workspace. “We’re excited to demonstrate how traditional, regenerative materials and resources will be used in new and innovative ways to construct our new campus offices.”

Sam Walton Hall, named after the company’s founder, is a 200,000-square-foot, two-story auditorium featuring conference, learning, and development spaces, while other elements include a Welcome Center and Helen’s Amphitheatre, named after Sam Walton’s wife and featuring terraced seating and a tree-canopied lawn for gatherings.

The Children’s Museum is a first-of-its-kind two-story structural round timber (SRT) building designed by Holzman Moss Bottino and Steinberg Hart, with WholeTrees Structures coordinating foresters, engineers, and fabricators to make the structure possible, the museum said in announcing its opening.

“The production of SRT systems leaves the trees in their original form with minimal processing, releasing far less carbon than alternative structural systems,” it said. “The resulting structure is the primary support system for the museum, consisting of round timber columns and joist-and-girder trusses in place of conventional steel.”

CMEC CEO Mike Lee said, “We have already served over 100,000 people this year, an increase of 135 percent from the peak at our previous location: something we certainly attribute to the natural feel of the new space.”

Image, top: Walmart

Image, middle: Children’s Museum of Eau Claire and Kleine Leonard Photography

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