Bowdoin College
IN-48: Innovation B

Bowdoin College has pioneered the use of mass timber construction in the state of Maine, demonstrating a less carbon intensive process for building construction. In 2021, Bowdoin College broke ground on the new Barry Mills Hall and the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies, the first mass timber commercial structures in Maine. The project opened to the public in spring of 2023. This 45,900 square foot project  provides academic spaces for the digital & computational studies and anthropology departments, as well as Arctic Museum spaces for the College. From grade level on up through the roof, the primary load-bearing building material comprises mass timber, a mix of glue-laminated timber columns and beams, and cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. Mass timber is a greener, more sustainable construction material as wood is a naturally renewable resource that sequesters carbon in the structure of the building, contrasting the traditional use of steel framing that releases large amounts of carbon during construction. The laminated structure of CLT allows for smaller saplings to be used in the fabrication of the beams, decreasing reliance on old growth forests. The use of mass timber in these buildings will reduce the embodied carbon of the structure by 20 percent of that of the steel alternative. 

Bowdoin is one of ten institutions to receive funding from the US Forest Service in partnership with the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that works collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. Through this $100,000 federal grant, the College has proven the viability of mass timber as a sustainable construction material for future development in Maine. Barry Mills Hall and the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies demonstrate the need and economic demand for a mass timber market in Maine, showcasing the broader impacts of these mass timber structures on the Northeast economy.