T3 Uses Timber to Complete Green Building Design

MINNEAPOLIS — The timber, technology, transit building — also known as T3 Minneapolis — used wood, one of the most sustainable materials in green building, to complete its designs. Valued at $30.5 million, T3 Minneapolis is the first mass timber building built in the U.S. in more than 100 years.

The 224,000-square-foot building is comprised of office and retail space and is owned by Hines, a real estate development agency located in Houston. Construction broke ground in July 2015 and was completed in November 2016. T3 Minneapolis was designed by Vancouver, Canada-based Michael Green Architecture (MGA) and built by locally based Kraus-Anderson. Minneapolis-based DLR Group worked as architect of record and also contributed to the building’s design.

By incorporating timber, the building uses some of the best and most current green building practices. Timber is much lighter than concrete, steel or other building materials and, during early stages of construction, requires a lighter foundation to be poured. The building also works to reduce carbon emissions by absorbing carbon into wooden fibers throughout the building’s lifetime.

The first floor of the building is made of concrete while floors two through seven are built of timber harvested from sustainable forests. It took less than 10 weeks for 180,000 square feet of timber framing to go up, according to Candice Nichol, an associate architect at MGA.

“The timber structure is erected faster than comparable concrete and steel structures which reduces construction time [while] saving money,” said Nichol.
The building also comes with sustainable features such as an energy-efficient building envelope that minimizes thermal bridging and uses high-performance glass. Energy-efficient HVAC systems will maintain the internal temperature of the building while conserving energy.

Besides commercial spaces and offices, the bottom floor includes a social space for employees and guests to gather. The building is also home to a fitness center, locker rooms and bike rails that encourage employees to bike to work.

The Bar Method, a San Francisco-based fitness center, already plans to occupy the space. In October, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported that Seattle-based Amazon might be eyeing T3 Minneapolis in hopes of creating a sustainable tech office. MGA declined to name the other companies that will fill the building, but it’s projected to be full by the end of 2017.