Prototyping Resilient Housing Using Mass Ply Panels

In the United States (U.S.) state of Oregon, a lack of affordable housing led to new legislation encouraging housing density by allowing for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and “cottage clusters” (small stand-alone houses assembled around a courtyard) on sites formerly zoned for single-family houses on urban sites. This legislation coincided with the state’s interest in reviving its timber economy and in mitigating increasing wildfires exacerbated by climate change through the production and application of mass timber, which can utilize fiber from small diameter trees from forest restoration projects, thereby contributing to reduction of wildfire risk. These two state challenges converged leading to significant interest in the development of a prefabricated mass timber small house prototype. This project investigated the potential for mass timber at small scale to achieve affordability through efficient pre-fabrication of panelized parts using advanced manufacturing techniques and minimal materials, while also creating higher quality, more thermally and natural hazard (wind, seismic, fire) resilient housing to better respond to increasing threats from climate change. The project team developed a 2-bedroom, 1.5 bath detached single-family Mass Ply panelized house optimized for cottage cluster land use, efficient wood fiber usage, and embodied carbon, creating two full-scale prototypes to test design assumptions, constructability and cost. This presentation will share important differences between light wood frame and panelized construction, lessons learned, and advantages of a panelized system.