Clemson University breaks ground on $68.3 million forestry building

Clemson University has broken ground on a four-story, 85,000-square-foot Forestry and Environmental Conservation (FEC) facility.

When construction is completed in December 2025, the $68.3 million facility will be the first mass timber academic building on the Clemson, South Carolina, campus.

The building will serve as a central hub for the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation and will house classrooms, laboratories, collaboration spaces, offices and support areas.

The site features a sweeping accessible pathway cutting through a designated experimental garden and an arboretum maintained by the FEC department to a creek where students can conduct research.

Moseley Architects, designer of the building, says the mass timber structure offers significant environmental advantages, such as reduced embodied carbon compared with traditional materials like steel and concrete.

The use of southern yellow pine, sourced from local sustainable forests, showcases Clemson’s dedication to supporting regional ecological practices and industries.

The facility is being built on a former parking lot to minimize land impact, enhance tree canopy coverage, and reduce urban heat island effects. The site lighting will be sensitive to nighttime light pollution.

The FEC building will serve as a living laboratory for students in architecture, engineering, construction management and environmental studies. 

Replacing the Lehotsky Hall Agricultural Quadrangle (Ag Quad), the new facility corresponds with burgeoning student enrollment and investment in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation.