A Project of Gratitude: The Children's Museum of Eau Claire
The Children’s Museum of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is a 24,000 square foot marvel showcasing locally sourced Structural Round Timber (SRT), bright colors, and natural light from sprawling glass windows. SRT provides carbon sequestration and sustainable construction, making it a great choice for eco sustainability in architecture. The museum is a collaboration between renowned international architectural firm Steinberg and Hart with WholeTrees that sparks wonder and excitement in innovation, teaching children and anyone who enters a valuable lesson in how buildings are made. This partnership illuminates a new pathway for options in biophilic and sustainable architecture.
““A true project of innovation and collaboration, this structure will be composed of trees from Port Blakely, one of our forestry partners and donor of Douglas Fir trees that will be featured in the Children’s Museum of Eau Claire.
WholeTrees has partnered with Steinberg Hart and KPFF to create a two-story structural round timber system for the Eau Claire Children’s Museum. The structure will be composed of our engineered bowstring truss and girders carried by a mix of 15’ and 30’ WholeTree ash columns. Groundbreaking for this project occured in October of 2021.””
WholeTrees, founded and headquartered in Wisconsin, is a groundbreaking pioneer in organic and sustainable biophilic architecture and design. Their usage of the organic matter powerhouse Structural Round Timber (SRT) was referred to as “perhaps the most sustainable and biophilic mass timber product on the market. Their mission is to provide sustainable design at affordable price points, creating touchstones of organic matter throughout design spaces and reducing their carbon footprint. Bringing nature indoors, WholeTrees creates moments of awareness and gratitude for the building blocks of the structures they create, and the world around us.
Left to Right: Amanda Rienth (Steinberg Hart), Malcolm Holzman (Steinberg Hart), Ermira Kasapi (Steinberg Hart), Michael McHorney (Children’s Museum of Eau Claire), Derek Mayhew (WholeTrees Structures), Amelia Baxter (WholeTrees Structures).