Bellevue, Washington is set to get the tallest mass timber office building in the United States. Skanska has revealed plans for Bevel, a 12-story, 180-foot tower designed by Waugh Thistleton Architects with Mithun, built almost entirely from engineered wood behind a glazed facade that keeps the material visible rather than hiding it.
The height record comes with a caveat worth putting in context. Bevel won't come close to Milwaukee's Ascent, currently the world's tallest timber skyscraper, though that building is residential rather than office space, a distinction that matters because commercial timber towers face a different set of code and engineering hurdles than apartments.
The structure itself is a hybrid, not a pure wood building, with a concrete parking garage and steel core handling stability and safety. In contrast, engineered wood columns, beams, and ceilings do the rest, left fully exposed across the office floors and the ground-floor public areas.
Most of the tower's 12 floors will be leased as office space, entered through a nature-infused lobby with floor-to-ceiling glazing and topped by a rooftop garden.