AIASC CE/HSW Webinar: Integration and Circularity in Mass Timber Floor Systems:  Acoustic Performance and Designing for Disassembly and Reuse

2025 AIASC Procrastinator’s CE Series
CREDITS: 1 HSW Learning Unit
AIASC CE/HSW Webinar: Integration and Circularity in Mass Timber Floor Systems:  Acoustic Performance and Designing for Disassembly and Reuse

DESCRIPTION
Targeting long spans, building systems integration, low-embodied carbon, and end-of-life circularity, a “hollow massive timber” (HMT) floor cassette system has been developed at Clemson University by an interdisciplinary research team from Clemson’s Wood Utilization + Design Institute. This presentation will detail the development and related design considerations of the unique HMT floor system, while seeing it applied to a baseline reference building. We will discuss the environmental performance goals and the related challenge of avoiding a concrete topping slab, which is otherwise a standard addition to mass timber floors. Integral to the successful application of the HMT system is its sound attenuation, particularly in residential apartments or in hotels, both of which are subject to strenuous acoustic performance regulations in the IBC. The presentation will describe the planning, construction and validation of a new two-story acoustic testing chamber at Clemson, followed by the results from airborne and structure-borne sound transmission tests performed on assemblies involving the experimental HMT floor cassettes.

PRESENTED BY: Dustin Albright, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Professor. Assistant Director, School of Architecture, CLEMSON UNIVERSITY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Participants will learn about the overarching environmental benefits of mass timber construction.
2. Participants will learn about the importance of end-of-life circularity for mass timber building components and how the HMT floor system is designed for this possibility.
3. Participants will learn about acoustic sound attenuation, related building code requirements, and strategies for high-rated acoustic floor assemblies.
4. Participants will learn about standardized testing procedures for the measurement of acoustic performance.

Dustin Albright, AIA, LEED AP, is an Associate Professor and the acting Assistant Director in the School of Architecture at Clemson University, where he leads design studios and teaches structures seminars. His teaching and research revolve around the materials, systems and processes of high-performance buildings with low embodied carbon. He is a founding faculty fellow and active contributor to Clemson’s Wood Utilization and Design Institute. In addition to his academic work, Dustin practices professionally in the Clemson, SC office of Hanbury.

Brandon Ross, PE, PhD, is the Cottingham Professor of Civil Engineering at Clemson University. He teaches in the area of Structural Engineering and his research activities include empirical assessment of Design for Adaptability and experimental testing of full-scale structures. His work ranges from reinforced concrete to mass timber applications.