Michael Green of MGA
Cover of Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction, and Performance (Birkhäuser, 2017)
The Skyscraper Museum continued its Mass Timber semester series, which brings together key voices in the Mass Timber movement to reflect on its short history, current condition, and promising future, in conjunction with the exhibition, TALL TIMBER: The Future of Cities in Wood.
Vancouver architect Michael Green is a pioneer of the Mass Timber movement in North America. Since his 2012 publication “The Case for Tall Wood Buildings” and inspiring 2013 TED Talk “Why We Should Build Wooden Skyscrapers,” Green has been a clarion voice in spreading the message of an all-wood architecture that is healthy, affordable, and sustainable. In his lecture, Michael shared the history and evolution of tall wood buildings from some of the earliest examples to his current design thinking, as outlined in “The Natural Building Blocks of Sustainable Architecture,” his 2023 TED Talk.
Throughout his career, Green has advocated for multi-story buildings in the pursuit of creating a more sustainable future. His talk focused on both proposed conceptual projects and built work, from his design for North America’s first modern tall wood structure – at almost 100 feet – completed in 2014, to his current designs for the world’s tallest timber tower – at 55 stories – in Milwaukee.
Joann Gonchar, Deputy Editor at Architectural Record, engaged in conversation with Michael after his presentation to discuss his early efforts in support of Mass Timber and how the use of the material has evolved over the past decade.
Michael Green is an award-winning architect and a leader in wood and bio-based construction. He is an advocate internationally for innovation in the built environment, having completed some of the most significant timber buildings in the world, and is the co-author of "The Case for Tall Wood Buildings" and Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction, and Performance. A Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, he founded Vancouver-based architecture and design firm MGA in 2012, which has now expanded to the US and Europe, and has been recognized with over fifty international awards for design excellence.
The video begins with a brief welcome by Museum director Carol Willis, followed by a 45-minute presentation by Michael Green, then a conversation with Green and the writer Joann Gonchar. The longer introduction by Willis of the series and of Michael Green is placed at the end of this video.