Reclaimed Veneer Plywood,
Flooring, Treads & Tables
From Rescued Urban Trees
LinkedIn | Omaha

Reuse of materials in 200,000 sf corporate campus spurs an industry

Office Lobby Featuring Urban Wood Ash Veneer Panels in Matte Clear

© Jason O’Rear

Wood Ceiling Panels installed in Office

© Jason O’Rear

Microsoft, the parent company of LinkedIn, is taking a bold stance on tackling climate change. As part of its attempt to become carbon negative by 2030, it has pledged to tackle the embodied carbon in its building projects company wide. (You can read more here.)

This initiative included a focus on recycled plywood for a 200,000 square foot LinkedIn campus in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Working with Gensler, the world’s largest office design firm, our product development team at Urban Evolutions, was charged with coming up with a contemporary, reclaimed solution for the 40,000 sf of plywood paneling and ceiling baffles needed throughout the project.

Ruling out more rustic plywood options, we tapped into our urban wood program, which focuses on finding a second life for felled trees collected by municipalities across the state of Wisconsin. We had considered making veneer using these trees in the past, but did not have a large enough customer to make it happen. 

With the size and scale of the Omaha project, we were able to entice Great Lakes Veneer, a large, 100+ year old, veneer manufacturer in our home state of Wisconsin, to take up the challenge and work with repurposed trees.   

“We enjoyed being part of this reclaimed wood project, said Nick Rogers, Great Lakes Veneer. “The urban trees presented some challenges because we had to deal with more variability than our normal logs.”

Wood Beams installed in Office
Urban Wood Ash Veneer in Matte Clear Finish in Work Booth in Office Space

© Jason O’Rear

Urban Wood Paneling and Table Tops Inside Office Space
Urban Veneer Panels Used On Elevator in Office Building
Live Sawn Wood Beams in Barley Finish Installed on Ceiling in Office
Urban Ash Veneer Panels, in Natural and Green Stain, Installed In Office Space

© Jason O’Rear

Project Scope

  • 40,000 sf of veneered ash paneling for walls and ceiling baffles
  • 1,300 sf of solid ash flooring
  • 4,000 lf of solid ash baseboard
  • 40 solid ash table tops for amenities areas
  • 16 larger veneer conference tables for meeting and gathering

“Thanks go out to all the vendors and installers that worked to make the project, a first of its kind, a success,” says Robin Janson, Urban Evolutions president.

Environmental Impact

  • 300 reclaimed city trees used rather than harvesting virgin wood 
  • Certified Red List Free (according to ILFI)
  • Low VOC, water-base and UL Greenguard gold-certified finishes throughout
  • Hardwood, veneer plywood manufactured domestically
    • Currently, six of 10 sheets of hardwood plywood are imported. Over half of those imports come from countries with dubious logging practices, such as China, Vietnam, Brazil, Russia and Malaysia.

“We are excited to support domestic manufactured plywood from reclaimed trees,” said Janson. “These trees would otherwise be turned into mulch or burned for fuel. Both of these options, while preferable to landfill, do little to maintain the carbon that those trees have gathered and stored for hundreds of years.”

Read more about Gensler’s workplace design strategy for the LinkedIn Omaha office. Visit Our Portfolio to read more about the second phase of this project.

Want to discuss your project?  Contact us today!