Lake Flato at the 2026 International Mass Timber Conference

A decade-long collaboration between Lake Flato and StructureCraft culminates this spring with an experimental timber pavilion at the 2026 International Mass Timber Conference (IMTC) in Portland. The structure of the pavilion explores a new architectural language for wood through a bending-active shell system formed from dowel-laminated timber (DLT).

March 26, 2026

Lake Flato and StructureCraft Explore Materiality with All-Wood Pavilion

The pavilion’s design reflects both firms’ ongoing commitment to advancing architecture through material experimentation and fabrication innovation. StructureCraft’s research-driven work in engineered timber systems aligns with Lake Flato’s long-standing interest in how natural materials and emerging technologies can shape new building forms.

Over the past decade, our teams have worked together on projects ranging from Hotel Magdalena in Austin to the new Harold Simmons Park in Dallas, each exploring new possibilities in structure and materiality. This pavilion builds on that trajectory, extending a broader line of inquiry into how fabrication can inform form.

Projects like House Zero, Lake Flato’s collaboration with ICON, which explored a new architectural language through 3D-printed curvilinear walls, reflect the same spirit of experimentation that informs this pavilion—using fabrication techniques not simply to optimize construction, but to rethink what architecture can be.

Timber has incredible potential when you stop forcing it into straight lines. This pavilion explores how the material can bend, drape, and find its own geometry. Ryan Yaden

Lake Flato Architects

Curved Panels: A New Language for Timber Construction

Composed of three curved panels spanning roughly 30 feet using standard 2×4 lumber, the pavilion is fabricated flat, shipped as a flatpack system, and bent into shape on site, where curvature generates the structure’s rigidity. The approach challenges the rectilinear logic that has defined most mass timber construction, demonstrating how timber—traditionally used in beams and panels—can perform as a shell.

Developed through rapid prototyping and computational modeling, the pavilion introduces several technical innovations, including UHMW plastic dowels that enable tighter bending radii and a bullnose-milled surface that accentuates the fabric-like drape of the timber panels.

By relying on standard lumber, CNC fabrication, and transportable flat panels, the project proposes a scalable approach to curved timber construction—pointing toward new possibilities for the next generation of mass timber architecture.

Come Visit the Pavilion at Booth #444

The pavilion will be constructed on site at the International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Oregon, from March 31-April 2, 2026, where it will serve as a centerpiece installation exploring new possibilities in timber design and fabrication.

Building on the connections and momentum established in Portland, the pavilion will travel to the AIA Conference on Architecture in San Diego, occurring June 10-13, 2026, extending the conversation and engaging a broader audience around the future of timber design.

Dezeen: Experimental pavilion in Oregon "challenges the rectilinear logic" of mass timber

Dezeen reports on the experimental pavilion at the International Mass Timber Conference.

“The installation introduces a bending-active shell system formed from dowel-laminated timber (DLT), which challenges the rectilinear logic that has defined mass timber construction for decades,” shares Lake Flato partner, Ryan Yaden.

“It only uses friction between wood. And that’s what was really enticing for us, why we really gravitated to it. We’re trying to reduce the impact on the environment. . . . It’s almost like fabric, but once it’s put together in certain ways, it becomes extremely rigid. It just drapes into place and then locks together,” shares Ryan Yaden.