ET137 – TimberTalks: Arboretum Recreation Center—Merging History & Sustainability

Additional fee, registration required.

How can you revitalize an aging, undersized Mission 66 field house to meet community needs and adhere to the mayor's vision for carbon net neutrality?

This tour reveals the invigorating outcome when a project overcomes hurdles, including preserving heritage trees, navigating easements, and harmonizing a design to triple the original square footage while respecting historic guidelines.

As you take in the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation's first mass timber construction project, you'll discover a harmonious blend of old and new, witness mass timber meeting budget and carbon neutrality targets, and explore a blueprint for future public development.

Learning Objectives

1. Gain an understanding of the multifaceted challenges involved in revitalizing historic structures to meet modern community needs while adhering to budget constraints and sustainability goals.
2. Explore the integration of sustainable design strategies, including mass timber construction, to achieve net-zero standards and align with municipal mandates.
3. Analyze the delicate balance required to harmonize historic preservation guidelines with contemporary architectural expansions and study the implications for future public development.
4. Gain insights into the practical application of cost-effective solutions of mass timber construction in a complex urban development project and discuss their relevance to the broader field of architecture and design.

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