Mass Timber, Modern Purpose: Oregon’s Tykeson Child Behavioral Health Building
There are projects that are interesting because of their size, and others because of what they may tell us about where construction is heading. The University of Oregon’s Tykeson Child Behavioral Health Building in Portland falls into the second category.
The 54,000-square-foot, two-story facility is being built with a mass timber structural system and will become the permanent home of the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health and the Prevention Science Institute. Designed by ZGF Architects and being constructed by Skanska, the project is expected to open in early 2029.
More Than a Timber Building
Mass timber has received a lot of attention over the last several years, and for good reason. It gives designers another structural option beyond the concrete-and-steel systems that have dominated commercial construction for generations.
But what makes projects like this interesting is not simply the material. It is where that material is being used.
Healthcare and behavioral health facilities are demanding environments. They need to meet strict performance requirements while also creating spaces that feel welcoming, calm and human.
The renderings of this project show exposed timber playing an important role in that experience. The structure is not simply hidden behind finishes; it becomes part of the architecture.
That is where mass timber can be particularly compelling. Wood brings warmth to spaces in a way that concrete and steel often do not, while engineered timber systems can also support broader sustainability goals when they are appropriately designed, sourced and constructed.
A Building Designed Around Its Mission
The building will bring education, research and clinical services together under one roof. Plans include flexible classrooms that can combine into a roughly 4,000-square-foot auditorium, a 5,000-square-foot behavioral health clinic, and a 2,500-square-foot telehealth center supporting students who will help deliver care across Oregon.
I have always believed the best buildings are the ones where the construction and the purpose of the building seem to understand each other.
A children’s behavioral health facility should not feel institutional simply because it has complex technical requirements. Materials, daylight, acoustics, glazing, landscape and interior spaces can all contribute to how people experience the building.
That makes this project as much a lesson in thoughtful design as it is a lesson in timber construction.
The Bigger Construction Story
The construction industry has a tendency to become comfortable with the materials and methods we already know. There is good reason for that. Proven systems reduce risk.
But innovation rarely happens by continuing to build everything exactly the same way.
Mass timber will not replace concrete or steel, nor should it. Every material has applications where it makes sense and others where it does not. The opportunity is having more tools available and being willing to use the right one for the project.
Projects like the Tykeson Child Behavioral Health Building help move that conversation forward. They give architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers and owners another real-world example of what mass timber can accomplish in a sophisticated institutional building.
And perhaps that is how meaningful change usually happens in construction—not when one new idea replaces everything that came before it, but when another good option earns its place in the toolbox.
Sometimes the future of construction is not about inventing an entirely new material. It is about finding better ways to build with one we have used for thousands of years.
