Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project

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Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project

Information

  • Project Name: Timber Living Complex
  • Student Name: Felix Blanch and Delaney McMorris
  • Softwares/Plugins: Rhinoceros 3D , Grasshopper , Climate Studio
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Excerpt: ‘Timber Living Complex’ is a Bachelors Design Project by Felix Blanch and Delaney McMorris from the ‘School of Architecture – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.’ The project reimagines a prominent historic corner in downtown Troy through contemporary mass timber architecture that enhances public life, provides diverse housing, and strengthens the relationship between people, streets, and the built environment. It seeks to balance innovation with respect for the city’s architectural heritage while promoting sustainable urban regeneration.

Introduction: This proposal for an apartment complex in Troy, New York, for Architectural Design Studio 4 at RPI SoA pushes the boundaries of what mass timber building design can be. Intended as a contemporary monument to be placed in the Gilded Age historic center of Troy, the design employs new strategies for living, public engagement, and ecological responsiveness. A raised corner that serves two merging retail spaces, a diverse range of living spaces, and a system of slats that control lighting and heating create a unique concept for what urban living could be in Troy.

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Site Context

This project is on a prominent corner in the historic downtown of Troy, New York. The city is mid-sized and formerly home to heavy industry. The historic center is full of remnants of 19th century architectural opulence, much of which is now derelict. Once a theater this site now holds a small Dunkin Donuts and a parking lot. The reimagination of this site consists of new street-level retail and an apartment complex with a variety of unit types. The project aims to bring back public interface with the street corner and provide housing for multiple demographics in the area, in a way that builds on the architectural heritage of the city and regenerates the fabric of the town.

Design Process

Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Elevational Sketch
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Interior Sketch
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Conceptual Sketch

The designers aimed to create a monumental presence in the downtown area that showed a new era of architectural aesthetics and technologies. At the basis of the design was the goal to create a corner open to the public, engaging retail spaces and apartments that provided for a range of demographics.

Final Outcome

Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Ground Plan Scaled
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Section Scaled
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Retail Render

By peeling the corner retail spaces away from the street edge and extending the corner into the central courtyard, the design establishes a more open, engaging, and functional public realm. Parametric design tools were employed to optimize the placement of the mass timber columns and the façade’s timber slats, which provide light protection. The columns remain intentionally exposed behind the timber screen, expressing the building’s structural logic and celebrating contemporary mass timber construction.

Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Second Floor Scaled
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Structure Diagram | Wall Section
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Model Interior
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Model Elevation

Beyond conventional architectural documentation through plans and sections, the design team produced a large-scale 1/2″ = 1′-0″ physical model of the structure and façade as the project’s culmination. Made using the building’s actual material palette, the model enabled a deeper exploration and more compelling demonstration of exposed mass timber tectonics as an emerging architectural language—one that could become more relevant as the material grows in popularity.

Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Model Interior
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Model Elevation
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Model Elevation

Conclusion: Ultimately, the project demonstrates how contemporary mass timber architecture can revitalize a historic urban site by integrating public engagement, diverse housing, and sustainable design while celebrating innovation, craftsmanship, and Troy’s evolving architectural identity.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]

Design Process

Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project

Final Outcome

Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project
Timber Living Complex: Exploring Mass Timber as a Framework for Urban Housing | Bachelors Design Project

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