The New Johns Hopkins Student Center: Designing for Constructability

The Center, a truly one-of-a-kind structure, necessitated a modern approach to mass timber construction to ensure its success. Under a design-build approach, a circular feedback loop was established between design, manufacturing, and construction for the mass timber superstructure. Key design challenges included an extensive two-way cantilevered roof system integrally connected to the building envelope, a mixed and minimal lateral load-resisting system requiring connectivity and significant load transfer across multiple stepped roof planes, and an intricately coordinated MEP system hidden within chases between timber panels with acoustic treatment. This paper presents the structural and construction engineering design, supply, and fabrication services for the 29 stepped and interconnected roof planes and their supporting glulam post-and- beam structure, and showcases the benefits of a design-build approach to mass timber construction.