The Postmark is Katerra’s first residential cross-laminated timber (CLT) project, utilizing European CLT in advance of its factory being operational. This project demonstrates the potential for mass timber to create elegant and sustainable buildings and to introduce significant construction efficiencies through prefabrication and deeper integration between design, manufacturing, and construction.
The Postmark includes 243 apartment units in two 5-story buildings above a two-level below-grade parking structure. The Postmark is a suburban community 10 miles north of Downtown Seattle, Washington.
CLT, along with glulam beams, is utilized as the floor slabs and roof structures, which reduces structural loads and dramatically increases build efficiency when compared to concrete and steel. Katerra’s design process involved high levels of 3D modeling and coordination with manufacturing. The prefabricated panels arrived onsite with all joints precut, to extremely low tolerances, enabling the crew to install an entire floor (30,000 ft2) in just three days.
