The Children’s Museum of Eau Claire
Holzman Moss Bottino, Steinberg Hart, WholeTrees Structures
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
The Children’s Museum of Eau Claire (CMEC) is a first-of-its-kind two-story structural round timber (SRT) building designed by Holzman Moss Bottino and Steinberg Hart, with WholeTrees Structures coordinating foresters, engineers, and fabricators to make the structure possible.
WholeTrees brought together the Port Blakely Companies, which donated the Douglas-fir truss material; Seven Islands Land Company (ME), which donated the stunning 30-foot maple branched atrium columns; and the Township of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for the ash columns. The production of SRT systems leaves the trees in their original form with minimal processing, releasing far less carbon than alternative structural systems. The resulting structure is the primary support system for the museum, consisting of round timber columns and joist-and-girder trusses in place of conventional steel.
In addition, CMEC is a 100 percent renewable-energy building. “The building project has been truly amazing for our entire region,” says CMEC CEO Mike Lee. “We have already served over 100,000 people this year, an increase of 135 percent from the peak at our previous location: something we certainly attribute to the natural feel of the new space.”
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