Hanszen Residential College

The new Hanszen Residential College, designed by Barkow Leibinger, replaces an existing student dormitory with over 50,000 SF of residential space, accommodating an expanding student body at Rice University. The 5-story building will be fully constructed using mass timber technology: glulam beams and CLT floor slabs. It will be the largest mass timber building in Texas and showcase recent developments in mass timber technology for multistory structures. knippershelbig is responsible for the structural engineering of the mass timber and other structural elements. knippershelbig worked closely with the timber manufacturer to optimize the design in order to achieve the budget goals of the client while maintaining a high technical level of detailing that is meeting the architect's aesthetic expectations.