Leers Weinzapfel Associates has been recognized by ARCHITECT Magazine as one of the Top 50 firms for design in the U.S. as part of the 2016 ARCHITECT 50 list. The annual ARCHITECT 50 program ranks the best architecture firms in the U.S. based on design excellence, sustainability, and business performance. To view the full list, click here

ARCHITECT magazine is the official publication of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Steel and reinforced concrete have long been the predominant construction materials for commercial buildings worldwide, but in the past five years, mass timber construction has rapidly gained viability as an alternative. Engineered wood products, which include cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail-laminated timber, and glue-laminated (glulam) structural members, have attracted interest for their high strength-to-weight ratios, comparatively lower embodied energy, and innate ability to sequester carbon.

In September, mass-timber construction will become the centerpiece of “Timber City,” an exhibition at the National Building Museum (NBM), in Washington, D.C., that will look at the evolving industry and its role in improving rural manufacturing communities and its benefit to urban centers.  The Design Building, built with mass timber, will be a featured project of the exhibit, which opens September 17th.  Watch a clip of the building in construction here.

“Timber City” will run from Sept. 17, 2016, to May 21, 2017, at the National Building Museum.

Irene Kang, AIA joined Leers Weinzapfel in 2007 and has been a pivotal member of the design team on many complex projects. She is a highly dedicated and committed project architect and was most recently involved on the award winning Oak and Laurel Hall Classroom Buildings, at the University of Connecticut and on the Salem State University Sophia Gordon Performing Arts Complex. Irene is currently leading the design of the UMass Amherst North Chilled Water Plant. She received a Bachelor of Art in Architecture from Yale University and a Master of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

There’s been a great interest in the design process behind our UMass Amhest Design Building. Tom Chung, Principal, has been traveling the country presenting the project and speaking about the mass timber and CLT design and construction process. He presented at the Mass Timber Conference in Portland, OR and Carr Symposium at Virginia Tech, VA in March, the Mississippi State Wood Conference in September, and the Mid-Atlantic Wood Solutions Fair in Philadelphia and Greenbuild Education Lab in October.

On track for completion in January 2017, the Design Building is rapidly taking shape. Chancellor Subbaswamy tours the sustainable wood structure, one of the first of its kind in the Northeast, which features innovations by UMass Amherst wood technologists.  Watch the video here

Read about the Design Building at UMass Amherst and it’s unique Mass Timber Construction on the  Architects Newspaper.  Read the full article and see the most recent construction photos here.

Architects Newspaper featured the UMass Amherst Design Building and it’s unique mass timber structure.  Read the full article and see some of the recent construction photos here.

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst Design Building was honored with a 2016 Green Good Design Award.  The Green Good Design Award program is presented by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.

Originally founded in Chicago in 1950 by Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. to promote and foster a greater public understanding and acceptance for Modern Design.  The 2016, GREEN GOOD DESIGN’s goal is to bestow international recognition to those outstanding individuals, companies, organizations, governments, and institutions – together with their products, services, programs, ideas, and concepts-that have forwarded exceptional thinking and inspired greater progress toward a more healthier and more sustainable universe.  See the full list of winners here

ARCHITECT Magazine featured the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Design Building on their Projects Gallery.  At 87,000 sf, the Design Building will be the largest timber building of its size and scale in the Northeast United States when it is completed in November.

The new facility brings together the previously dispersed departments of Landscape Architecture, Architecture, and Building Technology programs, and will be a dynamic space of exchange, collaboration, and experiment, celebrating a shared commitment to sustainability.  Read the full article here

Josiah Stevenson, Principal, has been elected the 2016 President-Elect of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA). Josiah has been an active BSA member since 1987, having served as its Commissioner of Design, sat on the Board of Directors from 2011–2014; served on the Honors & Awards Committee from 2008–2011; and was Chair in 2012. Recently, Josiah presented the firm’s work as part of the AIA Omaha 2016 Lecture Series and was a jury member for the Northern Avenue Bridge Ideas Competition sponsored by the City of Boston and the Boston Society of Architects.