In a world urgently needing renewable materials, Designing the Forest and Other Mass Timber Futures examines mass timber’s potential to replace concrete and steel while supporting planetary survival. The book follows wood’s journey—from stewarded seed in the forest soil to laminated wall panels, to eventual disassembly—pausing at each stage to assess the ecological, economic, and cultural forces shaping it.


Author Lindsey Wikstrom interrogates entrenched extractive systems, explores the realities of biodiversity and carbon storage, and dismantles common myths about fire safety, structural strength, and sequestration. By revealing the complex interplay between forest health, manufacturing processes, and building design, Wikstrom proposes a species-based methodology in which designers act as choreographers of carbon. This framework reimagines architecture’s role in balancing human needs with ecosystem resilience, offering a compelling roadmap for a truly timber-based future.

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