Tag Archives: uw

With one of the first mass-timber highrise apartment buildings in the United States about to open, researchers test how wood will stand up to a major Capitol Hill earthquake

Posted on by

The Heartwood under construction. It opens for residents soon at 14th and Union. (Image: Timberlab)

(Image: Nheri ESEC)

The eight-story Heartwood is ready to open above E Union as the first one of the first mass-timber highrise apartment building in the United States. Tuesday, University of Washington researchers will conduct a test simulating a major earthquake on Capitol Hill and how a life-size, larger version of a ten-story, cross-laminated timber building holds up to the shaking of “The Big One.”

CORRECTION: The Ascent in Milwaukee opened in July 2022.

You can watch the test live and see how the building holds up — or doesn’t.

“Mass timber is a new material, so we are testing it in a taller building as a proof of concept and to study if this is actually feasible — there aren’t any buildings in the world that are 10 stories and have structural systems made entirely of timber,” UW Civil & Environmental Engineering Ph.D. student Sarah Wichman said in the university’s announcement about the project.

Unlike the Heartwood which is being readied to open soon for residents at 14th and Union, the test building the UW students are jostling using a giant shake table facility at the University of California San Diego is timber all the way down to its seismic bracing. At Heartwood, the team from DCI Engineers used steel lateral bracing and a concrete foundation to steady the first of its kind building. Continue reading →

Shooting of anti-fascist at UW biggest scar on Seattle’s peaceful weekend of protest

Posted on by

https://twitter.com/mattpowdev/status/822669845988638721

University of Washington Police are investigating after an anti-fascist protester was shot during ongoing fighting in the crowds that gathered on the campus Friday night. The shooter has been identified and released from custody pending the investigation.

“We’re spending a great deal of time sorting through video we have received from the public and others,” Major Steve Rittereiser of UWPD tells CHS. Rittereiser tells CHS the department’s detectives are identifying witnesses and setting up interviews, a process that will stretch out over the coming days. A vehicle in the case has also been impounded and is being examined for evidence. Continue reading →

With eye on 2016 Capitol Hill light rail, plans readied to integrate Metro, Sound Transit service — UPDATE

Posted on by
Escalators leading up to mezzanine level of the UW light rail station (Image: CHS)

Escalators leading up to mezzanine level of the UW light rail station (Image: CHS)

King County Executive Dow Constantine will be at the University of Washington light rail station construction site Wednesday afternoon to announce the “initial results” of planning “to integrate services provided by the region’s two largest transit agencies” — King County’s Metro and Sound Transit.

“It is essential for transit agencies with overlapping jurisdictions to fully integrate their services, and provide them to the public as efficiently as possible,” Constantine said in a statement on the planning earlier this summer following his executive order forcing the process. “Long term, our transportation future requires both adequate revenue and continuous innovation to expand service. This initiative advances the innovation half of that equation.”

UPDATE: The release plan includes possible proposals to revise Metro Route 8 and create or revise Capitol Hill routes to better connect the Broadway light rail station to South Lake Union and First Hill. More details below. Continue reading →