WASHINGTON, March 27, 2018  /PRNewswire/ -- Metsä Wood is pleased to announce that a graduate architecture design studio called 'Mass Timber Mid Rise' at the Department of Architecture at MIT is contributing to the Open Source Wood initiative - the pioneering open innovation project aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing and growth in modular wood construction.

"At a moment when many coastal US cities face the challenges of urbanization, innovating and so testing ideas for green urban hybrid housing is more essential than ever. Our MTMR studio explores new models of mid-rise affordable housing utilizing mass-timber technologies and Metsä Wood's Open Source Wood initiative provides us valuable insight into wood construction and prefabrication technologies", says Professor Andrew Scott of MIT Architecture.

The Open Source Wood initiative aims to speed up the growth of modular wood construction by making wood element designs freely available for all. Only a fraction of urban construction today is wood, partly because knowledge and expertise in wood construction have been difficult to find. Open Source Wood gathers innovations in modular wood construction from all corners of the world and makes them available for all, free of charge.

"We are excited to work with the design studio at MIT Architecture and I look forward to what we can achieve together", says Mikko Saavalainen, SVP Business Development Metsä Wood.

The MIT group participates today in an Open Source Wood Hackathon in Finland together with Metsä Wood and students from Aalto University.

Learn more about Open Source Wood and how you can participate: www.metsawood.com/opensourcewood

For more information, please contact:

Henni Rousu, Communications Manager, Metsä Wood
tel. +358 40 554 8388, henni.rousu@metsagroup.com

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