The University of Montana is planning to construct a new home for the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation in Missoula. Designed by HDR as a living laboratory for research and teaching, the 75,000-sf building will collocate facilities currently dispersed across campus. The collaborative structure will provide wet and dry labs, active learning spaces, a lecture hall, faculty and graduate student offices, and a rooftop greenhouse.

Constructed with cross-laminated timber (CLT) components sourced and milled in Montana, the sustainably designed project will feature thermochromic glazing and a smart energy management system that allows transient perimeter spaces to act as a thermal buffer for energy-intensive core functions. The facility will chart new territory in Design for Deconstruction (DfD). DfD extends the life cycle of the building and in turn, its long-term carbon sequestration. This will achieve the goal of zero embodied carbon, or carbon balancing. Living Building Challenge certification will also be sought for the project.