Wood Building

Radiator Building
Portland, Oregon

Most commercial buildings are built with concrete and steel, at least from what I've seen. This one is made from wood. Wood doesn't seem like a good choice for a building material, unlike concrete and steel it burns. I recall a large, newly framed apartment complex going up in smoke not too long ago. But we have fires in modern concrete and steel buildings too. Furnishings and finishing materials burn just fine, which is why sprinklers are required almost everywhere now. And if there is a fire, the smoke is going to kill you long before the building collapses. So maybe wood is a viable choice. These guys evidently think so.

"As the first all-timber building to be built in a century, the Radiator Building is on the cutting edge of design and is the first new office building in the dynamic North Williams Corridor of Portland," said Kersten. . . . Originally built by Kaiser Group, Path Architecture and R&H Construction, a main priority of the project was to help revive the state's timber industry. - BusinessTribune

The timber industry was dang near kilt by the spotted owl. Maybe this will help get Oregon lumber out of the doldrums. Or maybe we'll just start importing lumber from Siberia.

The building only cost $233 per square foot, which is a bargain these days.