Our society is currently faced with two significant challenges: human-made climate change and the need to provide housing for an ever-increasing world population. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have relied on steel and concrete as the primary building materials for the construction of our cities. Their refinement and processing require large amounts of energy, which is mostly generated by the burning of fossil fuels. As a result, carbon that has been stored for millions of years has been released into the earth’s atmosphere in a relatively short period of about 150 years in the form of carbon dioxide, contributing significantly to the climate shift we are experiencing today. The manufacture of cement, the key ingredient of concrete, constitutes one of the most polluting processes in today’s construction industry. To provide sufficient housing for future generations, while at the same time lessening the impact on our environment, we must rethink the way we build.
 
Wood is a truly renewable building material that is unlimited in supply if its growth and harvest are sustainably managed. Trees store carbon through photosynthesis as they grow, simultaneously releasing oxygen. When wood decays or burns, it only releases as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as has been bound during its growth, therefore completing a carbon neutral life cycle. The latest innovations in engineering allow for the use of timber in the construction of multi-story and long-span structures.

We invite you to explore six innovative structures in North America and Europe that have been recently completed or are currently under construction. By replacing steel and concrete with timber, they illustrate how buildings and cities can function as carbon sinks rather than sources of CO₂ emissions. 

The Time for Timber exhibition is open for public viewing in the Mebane Gallery on the ground floor of Goldsmith Hall during normal business hours (8am-5pm).

This exhibition is organized by Ulrich Dangel, Meadows Foundation Centennial Fellow in Architecture, and sponsored by the Center for American Architecture and Design at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture.