News
Wood Innovation Grant 2026
big marks is a part of the team awarded a 2026 USFS Wood Innovation grant to collect acoustic performance data for mass timber wall and ceiling assemblies in order to to reduce adoption barriers. The Timber Sounds Project is a new field research initiative led by George Kourtis - Liniar Studio, Mike Raley - Director of the UO Acoustic Research Laboratory, and Mark Fretz - UO Dept. of Architecture
Portland Incubater Experiment (PIE)
big marks is thrilled with the official announcement of inclusion within the Housing Innovation Coworking Space along side the Middle Missing Housing Fund, Urbanform, Elemental Building Technologies, DL Viz, and the Iris Design Group. There is no substitute for the influence direct proximity has on innovation and co-learning.
big marks teamed with DRAWINGS and Schommer & Sons to conceptualize, design, and build two long porches greeting and sending off festival arrivals and departures. To ease construction and leave no trace upon deconstruction and removal, the structures were designed as a series of bolted modules which could be raised by hand with two people. Full length framing material donated by Hampton Lumber was used at full length with almost no cutting to maximize the lumber’s reuse potential in its next form after the festival.