Details
Location
Oakland, CA
Status
Construction Completed
Date
2025
Role
Director of Architecture, oWOW
Photo Credits
Andrew Nelson/oWOW
Location
Oakland, CA
Status
Construction Completed
Date
2025
Role
Director of Architecture, oWOW
Photo Credits
Andrew Nelson/oWOW
Project Description
Rising 19 stories in downtown Oakland, 1510 Webster is a groundbreaking residential tower designed to tackle the city's "missing middle" housing crisis. To achieve ambitious affordability goals, we pioneered a first-of-its-kind, point-supported Mass Plywood Panel (MPP) structural system. As the first prescriptive Type IV-A building in the United States, the design encapsulates the wood to meet fire codes while maximizing the material's structural performance. This unique beamless configuration allowed engineers to expand the structural grid to 12x15 feet, completely eliminating 47 columns per floor and streamlining the overall building process.
This innovative mass timber approach unlocked cascading efficiencies that made the project financially viable for middle-income renters. The significantly lighter weight of the MPP system reduced foundation demands, while the prefabricated floor and wall panels allowed the team to install all 16 floors of timber and facade in less than four months. Together, these reductions in timeline, labor, and materials resulted in an estimated $30 million savings over a comparable concrete high-rise. As a result, we successfully delivered 222 units of highly sustainable, low-carbon urban housing, offering 15% of the apartments at affordable rates without relying on traditional public subsidies.
Rising 19 stories in downtown Oakland, 1510 Webster is a groundbreaking residential tower designed to tackle the city's "missing middle" housing crisis. To achieve ambitious affordability goals, we pioneered a first-of-its-kind, point-supported Mass Plywood Panel (MPP) structural system. As the first prescriptive Type IV-A building in the United States, the design encapsulates the wood to meet fire codes while maximizing the material's structural performance. This unique beamless configuration allowed engineers to expand the structural grid to 12x15 feet, completely eliminating 47 columns per floor and streamlining the overall building process.
This innovative mass timber approach unlocked cascading efficiencies that made the project financially viable for middle-income renters. The significantly lighter weight of the MPP system reduced foundation demands, while the prefabricated floor and wall panels allowed the team to install all 16 floors of timber and facade in less than four months. Together, these reductions in timeline, labor, and materials resulted in an estimated $30 million savings over a comparable concrete high-rise. As a result, we successfully delivered 222 units of highly sustainable, low-carbon urban housing, offering 15% of the apartments at affordable rates without relying on traditional public subsidies.