Member Projects
Here's just a small sampling of what our members have helped create over the years.
Portland, Oregon - PDX
From its conception, the new mass timber roof at Portland International Airport was meant to feel like walking through an ancient Northwest forest.
Wood for the impressive nine-acre, 9,000-ton roof came largely from sustainably managed forests in Oregon and Washington. A curved lattice structure, interspersed with oval skylights, gives the impression of being outdoors beneath a thick canopy of trees.
Due to its immense size, the recently completed roof was broken down into 20 sections, or "cassettes," during construction. Sixteen of these sections were installed between September and December of 2022 for Phase I, which is scheduled to open to the public in 2024. Riddle Laminators contributed materially to this effort.
Chicago, IL - Lincoln Park Zoo
In Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, there stands a visitor pavilion made with glue-laminated timbers. The project primarily involved the addition of new boardwalks in the park, culminating in a glulam pavilion designed and built to give new importance to a necessary stopping place in the long maze of naturalistic boardwalks through the park.
It is a rounded arch structure made of specially shaped glulam wood covering a modest span of about 9 meters, in which twelve steel hinges on either side of the foundations form the base from which the ribbed vault departs. The ribs are bent to create eye-shaped openings which are in turn covered by wrinkly, multi-faceted fiberglass pods that look like sugar chrysalids or artificial Chinese lanterns. The airy nature of the resulting space is appropriate for the simplicity of this place, intentionally contrasting with Chicago’s high-tech skyline. Shelton Structures and RLD Fabrication created this tight-tolerance structure.
Salcha, AK - Tanana River Bridge
Though concrete and steel were the major materials used in Alaska’s longest (and most expensive) bridge, wood played an integral part. To construct the bridge, a temporary trestle was created in parallel to allow the massive cranes and materials to flow. Torgerson Forest Products provided the general contractor with the pre-fabricated materials delivered to the jobsite.