Mass timber projects succeed or fail on the design decisions made early. Member sizing and bay geometry drive structural performance, fabrication cost, and erection speed. Connection detailing determines fire rating, acoustic separation, and how the wood actually looks when the project is done. Mechanical integration, long spans, and hybrid framing pull all of those parameters into competition with each other. Julian Lineham, structural engineer at Studio NYL, a Lerch Bates Company, walks through how to design mass timber systems that hit performance, cost, and aesthetic targets at the same time, and how to navigate the tradeoffs when those goals pull against each other.

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Learning Objectives:

• How to identify critical design parameters of mass timber systems with regards to fire, vibration, acoustics, and moisture management.
• Strategies to develop optimal geometries to efficiently deploy mass timber systems, considering structural properties, costs, and speed of construction.
• How to deploy detailing strategies for mass timber joinery that consider aesthetics, fire rating, and cost.
• Strategies for unique conditions such as mechanical integration, long span requirements, and integration of hybrid systems to achieve more complex design goals.

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