GAB Report library
Buildings
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Tauranga Deploys Hybrid Mass Timber to Anchor NZ$306M Civic Precinct
Tauranga City Council is reshaping its central business district through Te Manawataki o Te Papa, a NZ$306.3 million civic precinct featuring hybrid mass-timber construction, certified 6-Star Green Star performance, and co-governance with mana whenua to restore cultural identity and long-term climate resilience.
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Willohaus Scales Passivhaus Classic for 100 Salford Affordable Homes
Salix Homes and the English Cities Fund have handed over Willohaus, a 100-unit, fully affordable residential scheme in Salford built to certified Passivhaus Classic standards. The all-electric development uses a compact form factor, structural framing infill, and continuous heat recovery ventilation to suppress operational energy demand and protect tenants against fuel poverty.
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VUB Opens Modular Living Lab to Test Zero-Waste Demountable Systems
Vrije Universiteit Brussel has opened a two-storey, 60-square-metre demonstration building in Zellik, Belgium. Designed under the Horizon Europe RECONSTRUCT consortium, the modular structure tests alkali-activated concrete, bio-composite envelopes, and dry mechanical connections to validate zero-demolition-waste building practices before planned component swaps and full deconstruction.
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Obama Presidential Center Cuts Fossil Fuels with Deep Geothermal Network
Opening on Chicago’s South Side, the 19.3-acre Obama Presidential Center demonstrates how demanding, museum-grade institutional buildings can completely eliminate on-site combustion in cold climates using a 160-borehole ground heat exchanger, advanced envelope modeling, and extensive stormwater capture.
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Prairie Roof Anchors Roosevelt Library in North Dakota
Opening in Medora, North Dakota, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library combines mass timber, rammed earth, and a 121,000-square-foot living prairie roof. Designed by Snøhetta, the project integrates passive thermal massing with an all-electric infrastructure while entering a twelve-month performance audit to verify its rigorous net-zero environmental targets.
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Mass Timber Cuts Embodied Carbon in High Seismic Middle School Study
A whole building life cycle assessment published by WoodWorks compares the mass timber replacement facility for The Bush School in Seattle against a composite steel baseline, demonstrating how structural timber and exposed surfaces lower upfront embodied carbon within high seismic zones.
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Washington High School Proves All-Electric Net-Zero Design at Scale
Washington, D.C. achieved LEED v4 Platinum certification for the new Benjamin Banneker Academic High School by combining an airtight building envelope, a 950-kilowatt solar array, and deep geothermal wells. The 175,000-square-foot facility now operates at an EUI below 20 kBTU per square foot.
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Upper Concrete Decks Solve Wind Sway in Mass Timber High-Rise
Norway’s 85.4-meter Mjøstårnet demonstrates how mass timber scales to high-rise heights by resolving structural dynamics and fire safety through deliberate material trade-offs. By combining regional glulam frames with heavy concrete upper floors, the design tames wind-induced acceleration while maintaining rigorous passive burnout protection under European building standards.
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Midwestern Adaptive Reuse Proves Closed-Loop Water and Net-Positive Power
Three years of post-occupancy operations at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security in Muscatine, Iowa, show how deep adaptive reuse achieved net-positive energy, closed-loop water autonomy, and significant commercial supply chain reform.
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Mass Timber Cuts Upfront Carbon by Half at Denver Burwell Center
A comparative life cycle study of the University of Denver Burwell Center demonstrates that mass timber cut upfront embodied carbon by approximately 50 percent compared to a steel baseline. By eliminating secondary finishes and accelerating erection by six weeks, the team kept the net cost variance within five dollars per square foot.