Inside a warehouse at the industrial Port of Portland lies what some believe could be the answer to Oregon's housing crisis — a prototype of an affordable housing unit made from mass timber.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Inside a warehouse at the industrial Port of Portland lies what some believe could be the answer toOnce mass-produced at the factory being planned at the port, the units ranging from 426 square feet to 1,136 square feet could be deployed across the state to be assembled in urban and rural communities alike, potentially alleviating a critical housing shortage that has driven Oregon's high rates of homelessness.
Mass timber is made from layers of wood that are stacked, often in perpendicular layers, then compressed and fastened together to make large panels or beams. Already popular in Europe, where it was developed in the 1990s, mass timber is gaining ground in the U.S. The tallest mass timber building in the world, the 25-story Ascent MKE building, opened in Milwaukee last summer, surpassing Norway’s 18-story Mjostarnet tower.
The TallWood Design Institute is a collaboration between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. “The business has gone toward clear cutting, spraying, replanting and cutting them down 35 years later,” said Sean Stevens, executive director of conservation organization Oregon Wild. “When you do that 40-year rotation, you never let them get to that point where they could really contribute to storing more carbon. You’re treating it like a crop at that point.”
Some wildfire victims, however, are set to directly benefit from the units. The first completed prototype will go to a couple, Barbara and Scott Benedict, who lost their home in the 2020 Labor Day wildfires that devastated southern Oregon. Ernesto Fonseca, CEO of Hacienda CDC, the Portland nonprofit that worked on designing the prototypes at the city's port, said it took about six weeks to build six model units. When the factory becomes fully operational, Fonseca estimated it could produce four to six units per day, compared to three to four years for a more traditional project.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Study finds Minnesota, Oregon fastest-talking states, Louisiana and South Carolina slowestContrary to stereotypes of quick-speaking East Coast city slickers, Minnesota is the fastest-talking state at 5.34 syllables per second, according to a study from language learning platform Preply.
Read more »
Pac-12 Power Ratings: Top 5 stay intact; up-and-down Oregon remains a mysteryPac-12 Hotline women's basketball Power Ratings:
Read more »
Oregon Jury Awards $1M To Woman Told, ‘I Don’t Serve Black People’ At Gas StationRose Wakefield, 63, called the incident 'a terrible, terrible confrontation between me and this guy.”
Read more »
Cops hunt Oregon torture suspect jailed in Vegas kidnap casePolice in southern Oregon are searching for a man accused of torturing a woman he held captive, less than two years after he was convicted in Nevada of critically injuring another woman he held captive for two weeks
Read more »
Cops hunt Oregon torture suspect jailed in Vegas kidnap casePolice in southern Oregon are searching for a man accused of torturing a woman he held captive, less than two years after he was convicted in Nevada of critically injuring another woman he held captive for two weeks.
Read more »