1. The benefits of using mass timber in adaptive reuse projects, including how its light weight, prefabrication, and sustainability advantages support renovation work.

2. Best practices for connecting new mass timber construction with existing structures, with a focus on critical detailing considerations for successful integration.

3. The sustainability benefits of adaptive reuse combined with mass timber construction, and how life cycle assessment approaches differ for renovations and additions compared to new builds.

Mass timber is uniquely suited for adaptive reuse, offering a lightweight, prefabricated, and sustainable solution for breathing new life into existing structures. In this session, Amy Harrington and Justin Den Herder—two of TYLin’s leading voices in mass timber and sustainable building practices—share hard-earned lessons from built projects that blend historic heavy timber construction with modern mass timber systems.

Through case studies including the recently topped-out Amherst College Student Center, they will reveal practical insights into connection strategies, detailing challenges, and how historic methodologies can inform today’s adaptive reuse work. Looking ahead, they’ll also present findings from an ongoing study exploring mass timber vertical additions to NYC public housing—a bold look at how mass timber could help revitalize aging building stock at scale.

Whether you’re a designer, engineer, developer, or policymaker, this session offers a compelling exploration of how mass timber can extend the life—and value—of our existing built environment, while supporting deep sustainability goals.

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