Texas & Louisiana Snapshot for October 2021

This shot was captured during erection of the mass timber structure at San Jacinto Community College’s classroom building in Pasadena, Texas, at the beginning of 2021. According to Walter P Moore, the structure will be the largest instructional building in the U.S. constructed from mass timber. The floor plate is made of cross-laminated timber with a concrete topping over an acoustic layer with glulam columns that have steel braces and feature glulam braces.

Mass timber creates a construction site of a different character than one of concrete and steel, and the structure is erected quickly with a small crew, six individuals in this case. The moment the floors are placed they are ready to accept construction loads without shoring, and as a result, other trades can being working on a site that otherwise would see little activity.