Designing the Forest and other Mass Timber Futures

Architect Lindsey Wikstrom’s book Designing the Forest and other Mass Timber Futures traces wood’s passage from stewarded seed in the soil of forests, to harvested biomass, to laminated mass timber buildings. Pausing at each step in the supply chain, Wikstrom considers the labor and economies involved and looks closely at the way wood is grown, sourced, and transported, and its impacts on the biodiversity of the forest and health of our ecosystems. Beautifully illustrated by Wikstrom’s drawings, the book argues that a more sensitive species-based approach is essential, with designers as choreographers of carbon, transferring and trading between forest, factory, site, and beyond.

Lindsey Wikstrom is the Founding Partner of Mattaforma, a New York-based design practice that draws on a parallel project of material and environmental research. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and has taught and lectured at numerous universities. Wikstrom holds an M.Arch from GSAPP, where she was awarded the Charles McKim Prize, Visualization Award, and Avery 6 Award. She is the organizer and moderator of Material Worlds, a speaker series hosted by MoMA’s Emilio Ambasz Institute.