The new buildings at the Oregon Forest Science Complex for education in inspiring and evocative environments

The new Oregon Forest Science Complex buildings were designed by Michael Green Architecture  to be formative themselves, living laboratories, architectures to interact with and learn from. The new George W. Peavy Forest Science Center (83,000 sq. ft.) is connected to the complex natural layers from the ground to the sky. The building is designed as two intersecting volumes connected to the existing Richardson Hall. 20 classrooms, computer rooms and laboratories that vary in size and location, indoors or outdoors, facilitating a range of teaching styles in a stimulating environment to study all aspects of the forest landscape

At the heart of the Peavy Center is the Roseburg Forest Products Atrium. Shaped by towering two-story Douglas fir columns, this large space gives the feeling of being in a forest. The atrium is directly connected to the Peavy Arboretum, a collection of local plant species that serves as a "living classroom" for students, community and industry. The boundary between the building and the adjacent nursery is blurred to remind students and faculty of their unique and critical role as environmental stewards

The design of the wooden structure is innovative in its response to the high seismic demands of the site. Speaking of "educational building," the wooden structure is monitored by more than 200 sensors installed to collect data on vertical and horizontal structural movement and moisture. This data will be used for research on the performance of mass timber structures throughout the life of the building and will give useful information on best practices in building with mass timber

The A.A. "Red" Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory (18,000 sq. ft.), on the other hand, houses the Tallwood Design Institute, which brings together industry and academia to advance knowledge about the use of wood products in buildings through applied research, product development, testing, and professional training. The building provides dedicated research space for the development and testing of innovative wood products and technologies, producing data that can be applied in research and industry