Rosa O. Valdes STEM + Innovation Center Wins Wood Design & Building Award
The project, an inclusive new hub for math, science, and innovation at Greenhill School, was celebrated during the annual Woodrise Conference in Vancouver.
"The diversity and creativity in this year’s winning projects demonstrate how wood can connect people with nature. These designs not only showcase wood’s versatility, but also create spaces that enrich daily life and support community well-being. They are high-performance solutions that respond to today’s urgent need for housing, schools, and community spaces."
Nestled within Greenhill School’s campus of low-slung buildings in the north Dallas suburb of Addison, the 67,400 square-foot Rosa O. Valdes STEM + Innovation Center includes classrooms, fabrication and robotics labs, makerspaces, and common gathering areas, intermixed to foster cross-disciplinary study. At the outset of the project, client and design team set the priority of putting sustainable design on display, highlighting visible strategies for daylight access, low embodied carbon, energy reduction, and rainwater collection and reuse.
The early selection and use of mass timber as the structure and primary material of the Valdes STEM + Innovation Center was critical to helping the project achieve long-term social, economic, and environmental value. A glulam frame and cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor and roof slabs, used without additional finishes, establish a highly visible strategy for carbon reduction, while providing a warm, natural framework throughout classrooms, offices, and gathering areas.
The project team included Walter P Moore (Structural Engineer); OJB (Landscape Architect); Westwood (Civil Engineer); DBR (MEP Engineer); and Scott + Reid General Contractors, with photography by Nic Lehoux.
The Wood Design and Building Awards program celebrates excellence in wood architecture and construction. Learn more about the winning projects below.
