The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has revealed the winners of its 2024 Mass Timber Student Design Competition, sponsored by Think Wood.
The competition challenged students to design multi-storey buildings using mass timber, with a focus on affordable housing and rapid development.
The first-place project, “T-LINE,” was submitted by a team from Columbia University consisting of Jixuan Li, Linru Wang, Luyan Li, and Yingxi Dong.
Their design reimagines a rezoned industrial site in the Bronx’s Morris Park as a sustainable, transit-oriented community.
The 66,590 square metre development provides 286 affordable housing units and showcases the potential of mass timber construction and energy-efficient design.
Other top winners include:
- 2nd Place: “Live, Laugh, Learn” by Marco Zhou, Cal Poly Pomona
- 3rd Place: “Green Gables” by Cindy Duan and Julie Chen, Yale University
- 4th Place: “131 W 133rd Street” by a team from Columbia University
- 5th Place: “PreFabulous” by Olivia Loncar-Bartolini and Rick Schutte, University of Toronto
The competition, open to students enrolled in U.S. and Canadian institutions, aimed to explore innovative uses of mass timber in tall buildings while addressing affordable housing needs.
Participants were encouraged to consider prefabricated components and volumetric modular approaches to highlight the benefits of mass timber in rapid development.
This competition reflects a growing interest in mass timber construction within the architecture and engineering community.
Mass timber offers comparable strength to concrete at a lighter weight, allows for faster construction, and requires less on-site labour.
It also serves as a low-carbon alternative to traditional building materials, supporting sustainable development practices.
The winning projects will be officially announced at the CTBUH 2025 Americas Conference in March 2025, showcasing the next generation of innovative tall building designs using mass timber technology.
