Mockup Program Archives

Project Details:

Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University
Location: Mantua, NJ
Size: 44,000 sq. ft.
Architects: Ennead Architects & KSS Architects
Builders: Jingoli & Sloan & Company
Exterior Cladding: 21,000 sq. ft. of CUSTOM FSC®-Certified Accoya® wood
Battens: 15,000 linear ft. of CUSTOM FSC®-Certified Accoya® wood

Project Overview

The Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University invites visitors to step 66-million years back into Earth’s ancient past. Set on a 123-acre site anchored by an active fossil quarry, the 44,000 sq. ft. museum is a groundbreaking destination that sets a new benchmark for green building practices in the region, as the largest net-zero carbon building in New Jersey.

Designed by Ennead Architects in collaboration with KSS Architects, the Edelman Fossil Park unites science, architecture, and sustainability to foster education and environmental stewardship. It tells a powerful story of Earth’s incredible past, while inspiring visitors to protect its future.

In search of a durable, sustainable wood product that required little to no maintenance, the design team came to reSAWN TIMBER co. early in the design process for a material that would meet both performance and aesthetic needs. The outcome was over 21,000 sq. ft. of CUSTOM FSC®-Certified Accoya wood cladding, and 15,000 linear ft. of CUSTOM Accoya battens. From material selection and production through installation and completion, reSAWN partnered with the project team to provide complete project support and technical expertise.

The Design Vision

The museum’s design integrates indoor learning experiences with outdoor exploration. Inspired by the fossil record and geological narrative of the site itself, the architecture is a metaphorical lens that frames the immersive exhibits, with pavilions shaped to direct movement from indoors out to the hands-on fossil excavation quarry, where visitors can dig for their own prehistoric treasures.

Project Goals

The project’s primary goal was to support the museum’s mission and demonstrate environmental responsibility through the creation of a high-performance building. Utilizing the Living Building Challenge as a guide, the design features several environmentally friendly properties, with mass-timber construction as a focal point to contribute to lower embodied carbon.

The design is centered on an aesthetic that evokes Earth’s ancient past and layered crust; a warm, natural finish was needed for the cladding to establish the building as part of its natural surroundings. The chosen material needed to perform well in New Jersey’s variable climate with minimal maintenance required over time.

“[We] wanted to create a design that was integrated with the natural setting…we chose Accoya made by reSAWN TIMBER co. very intentionally first and foremost for its appearance and aesthetic qualities.” – Thomas Wong, Ennead Architects

Project Support & Solutions

When Ennead approached reSAWN looking to partner with a manufacturer who could execute their design intent, the original aim was to use a clear vertical grain western red cedar to maintain a warm, natural wood tone. After close collaboration with our Specification Consultant, we determined that CVG western red cedar was not the right choice to fulfill the project requirements. After several meetings at our Sample Studio in Telford, PA to discuss materials and study samples, the focus shifted to FSC®-Certified Accoya wood for its sustainability and durability.

“[V]isiting reSAWn, back and forth with product reps at reSAWN…really opened the doors for us to explore wood in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to probably otherwise.” – Andy Sniderman, KSS Architects

Material Selection: Custom-finished Accoya Wood

To produce a material that would mirror the look of red cedar, reSAWN’s research and development team created a custom two-coat finish system that would give longer lasting color with minimal maintenance. The result was a CUSTOM Accoya cladding with a beautiful tone that offers warmth, tactility, and visual connection to nature.

Accoya is produced from sustainable, plantation grown pine, is non-toxic and recyclable, and acts as a carbon sink, offering much lower lifecycle carbon emissions than other building materials, to fully support the building’s net-zero design. Its patented acetylation process ensures exceptional durability and stability, with a 50-year above ground warranty that provides confidence in the product’s ability to perform and remain low-maintenance over the building’s lifetime.

To maintain consistent durability and material compatibility, Accoya was also selected for the 15,000 linear ft. of battens. reSAWN guided the design team in recognizing the importance of using a high-performance material for these hidden, but critical, components. Choosing Accoya for both the cladding and battens supports long-term system integrity by reducing the risk of movement and decay, helping to ensure the entire exterior performs as intended for decades to come.

Mockups

After material selection, reSAWN assisted in the development and installation of a series of full-scale mockups on site to ensure the material performed as expected. The mockups were installed in two stages:

The first mockup was installed in late fall 2020 to help understand a larger field of material and observe the product’s weathering properties.
The second, or performance mockup, was conducted in spring 2022 to work through wall assembly details, proper installation practices, and corner/transition details.

Technical & Installation Support

reSAWN’s technical support team collaborated with the project team throughout the entirety of the build to ensure a full understanding of proper installation techniques including fastening aspects, specific overlap aspects, correct detailing, and proper gaps between panels. Several site visits throughout construction were conducted by reSAWN’s Specification Consultant and leadership group to provide support on location during installation, and offer guidance on appropriate finishing techniques to verify the second coat of finish was applied correctly in the field.

“There was a lot of detailed collaboration. Fastening aspects, specific overlap aspects, detailing it the right way, having the right gaps between panels…getting feedback from the [reSAWN] rep to make sure we’re providing the right information for a contractor to be able to build.” – Andy Sniderman, KSS Architects

Project Outcome

Opened to the public in March 2025, The Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University now stands as a testement to the power of sustainable design and thoughtful collaboration, serving as a national model for educating the public on plant and animal diversity, earth sciences, and environmental responsibility.

The project team was extremely pleased with the cladding choice and its contribution to the project outcome. reSAWN’s ability to provide guidance on material selection, deliver material on time, recommend best practice installation methods with on-site support, and the material’s ease of workability, played a vital role in aligning the building’s design with its deeper mission – preserving the past, educating the present, and building toward a more sustainable future.

reSAWN is your partner in bringing any design vision to life through dedicated, customized support and the highest-quality materials that elevate your project outcome. We’re committed to supporting you through every stage of your project, from early design stages through completion and maintenance to help your project thrive long-term. Contact us to get started.

Given rising labor & material costs and ever-expanding lead times, even the smallest element executed incorrectly can have detrimental implications to a project’s budget and schedule. Solid execution is particularly critical for exterior features that safeguard a structure from the elements. That is why field mockups for exterior wall assemblies have become such an essential part of planning during residential and commercial projects.

Mockups provide architects, designers, contractors, and owners the opportunity to assess an in-person, three-dimensional representation of a design so that functionality, aesthetics, and quality can be evaluated down to the smallest detail.

Knight wall rainscreen System. — Lakeshore Drive Residence – Newtown Square, PA – Knight Wall Rainscreen System Mockup – *Hidden Gutter System*, reSAWN TIMBER co. NIGIRI & WABI SABI Cladding, Marvin® Windows, and 6” stone

The building enclosure (envelope, skin, facade, etc.) represents one of the greatest risk elements of construction. Water penetration, air leakage, and increased energy consumption are common consequences of poorly designed and constructed building enclosure assemblies.

Exterior wall cladding is the visible and exposed surface of a wall assembly and the primary water-shedding layer. It is subjected to the elements and must be constructed to endure long-term deterioration and weathering.

Center for Coastal Studies, Scripps Institution of Oceanography:: MARTELL Shou Sugi Ban Charred Western Red Cedar Exterior Cladding/Siding — reSAWN TIMBER co. MARTELL Shou Sugi Ban – La Jolla, CA

Sleek Mountain Manor featuring GRAPHITE Abodo Vulcan Cladding — reSAWN TIMBER co. MARTELL Shou Sugi Ban – La Jolla, CA

Fortunately, a wall surface does not have to be completely waterproof in order to resist rain and snow. It simply needs to be able to prevent water from getting past the surface material and into the rest of the wall assembly. This concept is what led to the development of rainscreen layered wall assemblies – one of the most reliable ways of keeping exterior walls dry or allowing them to dry out when they do get wet. It’s reSAWN’s preferred method.

reSAWN TIMBER co. lakeshore Drive Mockup — Lakeshore Drive Residence – Newtown Square, PA – Knight Wall Rainscreen System Mockup – Spire Builders

Rainscreen assemblies are built on the assumption that water does not move on its own. Rain and snow, the two most common types of water that fall on an exterior wall, are either pushed downward by gravity or pushed sideways by the wind. The airspace behind a building’s cladding or exterior finish has a significant impact on the physical consequences of rain on built environments and their ability to dry after getting wet.

A rainscreen deploys an outside surface – a rainscreen cladding layer – to break the power of sideways, wind-driven water movement, allowing any water that passes through the microscopic gaps in the surface to lose speed. The majority of water merely bounces off the surface or runs down the side of the building.

reSAWN_Rainscreen_IMG_0942-1-scaled — Commerical Rain Screen Wall Cladding Assembly – Telford, PA, reSAWN TIMBER co. WILLIWAW – Weathered Alaskan Yellow Cedar

Why Do a Field Mockup for Exterior Wall Assemblies?

When specifying wood cladding materials for exterior applications, weathering is something that architects, interior designers, and building owners should keep in mind. Since wood is a natural material, when it’s continually exposed to environmental elements such as moisture, sunlight, and wind, the physical attributes of the material change and weather over time. With an exterior wood cladding assembly mockup, specifiers can choose products confidently, knowing that the cladding suits the exact exterior conditions where the structure is being built, by observing how it weathers and moves over time in a project-specific climate.

IMG_0003-1-scaled — reSAWN TIMBER co. SURETO Cypress Shou Sugi Ban – (not shown in image) – Norwalk, CT – White Architects

Mockups create an opportunity to refine a design approach before the actual fabrication of components begins and before any unresolved or unknown issues are constructed into the building. Once completed, exterior wall assembly mockups serve to establish the technical, quality, and aesthetic standards for the wall cladding and the project.

The integrity of an exterior wall assembly depends on the performance of its individual components & systems and the transitions between said systems. By taking the time to construct and test a mockup, architects, designers, and contractors can be sure they have the proper materials, a working assembly, and quality execution.

Even with today’s photorealistic rendered images through building information modeling (BIM), full-scale mockups do more than a drawing or rendering can.

Butter Lane Charred Accoya — reSAWN TIMBER co. **IKIGAI** Accoya® Shou Sugi Ban Rendering – Bridgehampton, NY – Architect: Young Projects

Exterior wall system mockups allow project teams to touch, see and interact with the finished product while it’s still early enough to make changes without cost impact. Furthermore, since every structure and location is unique, and there are innumerable building material possibilities available, BIM or computer-aided design (CAD) detailing cannot resolve field-dependent variables the way a full-scale field mockup for exterior wall systems can.

image1-scaled — reSAWN TIMBER co. **IKIGAI** Accoya Shou Sugi Ban Field Mockup – Bridgehampton, NY – Architect: Young Projects

SURETO Western Red Cedar shou sugi ban
Asheville, NC
Carlton-Edwards Design Build — reSAWN TIMBER co. SURETO Charred Western Red Cedar Shou Sugi Ban – Asheville, NC – Architect: Carlton-Edwards Design Build

When done correctly, the construction of a mockup allows a project team to collaboratively work out detailing and compatibility issues that arise during the course of construction, verify the proper function of the intended construction, and apply the results from the process to the project, thereby avoiding costly repeated defects in the completed residential or commercial building.

Benefits of Field Mockups for Exterior Wall Cladding Assemblies

Specify material confidently, knowing that the product suits the exact exterior conditions where the structure is being built.
Observe some amount of wood weathering in a project-specific climate.
Observe tolerance for wood movement in a project-specific climate. Most wood movement occurs in the first 6-8 months after installation.
Understand wood cladding appearance over a larger field of material.
Monitor effectiveness in rear ventilation & drainage through assembly details (i.e. rainscreens).
Mockups are useful for obtaining approval from stakeholders who may find it difficult to understand drawings and specifications.
With a mockup, project teams have the chance to see how the material will perform at the project site prior to full-scale construction.
Performance mockups provide assurance that the specified materials will function as required under a variety of extreme climatic conditions.
The most seasoned trade partners can benefit from using a exterior wall cladding assembly as a teaching tool to show teams how the work should be done. This reduces the risk of quality issues while improving the speed of construction.
In the interest of sustainability, creating a mockup to to help ensure materials will only have to be installed once, can proactively reduce waste on a construction project.
Creating and testing a building enclosure mockup on a small scale, ensures it is done right on a grand scale. It saves project time, money, aggravation, and waste.

reSAWN TIMBER co. Mockup Program — This reSAWN made mockup was placed at an elevation of 7,000 feet near Lake Tahoe, California. The materials endured two consecutive harsh winters with heavy snowfall, ice, wind, and rain. The materials are weathering well despite the exterior conditions.

If you’re interested to see how reSAWN TIMBER co.’s exterior cladding will perform on your project site, we offer field mockups for wall cladding assemblies.

We meet the needs of architects, designers contractors, and building owners by designing modern, high-performance exterior products that are meant to age in place with grace.

Click here to get started. We’re happy to assist.

LEARN MORE :: reSAWN’s Mockup Program

Case Study: Building a More Sustainable Future at Edelman Fossil Park & Museum