NotchSB is the culmination of a series of design, construction and materials manufacturing companies

It started with an idea for a greener future of housing. After over a decade of research, development, and project experience, we designed the all-wood panelized building system for housing today.

Black and white photograph of a modern architectural office meeting with six people working at a long table with computer monitors, papers, and architectural blueprints; a man is standing and speaking to others, who are seated and listening.

2008

Matthew O’Malia Co-founds Belfast, Maine based Design/Build Firm GO Logic focusing on bringing the Passive House Standard stateside

A modern, two-story passive-house with large glass windows and solar panels and hot water array on the roof, situated in a wooded area with tall trees in the background.

2008

First Certified Passive House in Maine

  • The GO Home was the first Passive House building in Maine, and only the 12th constructed in the U.S. GoLogic developed the 1,500-square-foot, 3-bedroom house to demonstrate that zero-energy single-family housing could be delivered at a cost comparable to that of standard residential construction, even in a cold northern climate.

  • Meeting both Passive House and LEED Platinum standards, the GO Home provides a healthy, comfortable environment while reducing energy demand by approximately 90 percent from that of an equivalent code-compliant building.

  • Photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays result in net-zero energy consumption on an annual basis

  • 2011 LEED for Homes Project of the Year

  • 2012 Treehugger The Best of Green Award

  • 2011 US Green Building Council Project of the Year

    Architecture Credit: GOLogic

    Photography Credit: Trent Bell

Black and white photo of several modern homes in an eco-village with metal roofs, snow on the ground, and a cloudy sky in the background.

2014

36-Unit Net-Zero Housing Development

  • Designed with the goals of preserving farmland and providing owner-developed, cooperative housing, it serves as a demonstration model for a new type of development: one combining smart growth principles with the highest level of building energy efficiency, at a cost comparable to that of standard residential development.

  • Because GO Logic produced both the site plan and the building designs, we were able to integrate the new development fully with the landscape, optimizing solar orientation, walkability, and the site’s panoramic rural views.

  • 2016 AIA New England Honor Award

    Architecture Credit: GOLogic

    Photography Credit: Trent Bell

Nighttime view of three CLT modern houses on a remote Maine island coast surrounded by trees, with lights on inside.

2014

First Panelized CLT Prototype

  • Our first panelized CLT structure, located on a remote and fragile island site in Maine

  • Prefabricated, cross-laminated timber panels milled and precisely precut in Quebec, the panels were delivered to the site via truck and ferry and assembled to form the entire enclosure—floor, walls, and roof.

  • 2016 AIA Maine Honor Award

  • 2015 AIA New England Honor Award

  • 2015 Custom Home Magazine Grand Award

    Architecture Credit: GOLogic

    Photography Credit: Trent Bell

Concrete foundation with rebar supports at a construction site, surrounded by dirt and gravel.

2016

Patented Slab on Grade Foundation

In high performance buildings, slab foundations make sense from a number of standpoints. Compared with frost wall foundations, they use less concrete, which has an extremely large carbon footprint. They cost less, involve less digging, and avoid the thankless task of keeping water out of a New England basement. The result is a foundation that installs quickly and cleanly, supports virtually any residential-scale framed structure, and meets the stringent Passive House energy efficiency standard. The 50 percent savings in labor required for our slab system more than offsets the cost of the additional thickness of insulation, making it less expensive to construct than a conventionally built slab, and the insulation lowers operating costs for the life of the building.

Cross-section of a building foundation showing concrete slab floor, exterior wall, exterior slab, 2-inch rigid insulation, and underslab rigid insulation, with heat transfer visualization.
Two men in business casual attire standing in an architecture office, smiling, surrounded by desks, computers, and bookshelves.

2017

Timber HP co-founded by Matthew O’Malia & Joshua Henry to Manufacture Wood Fiber Insulation in America

Person bending a wood fiber insulation batt to demonstrate it's flexibility.

2017

Wood Fiber Insulation Manufactured in America

TimberHP by GO Lab, a privately-held, building products company, was founded in 2017 with one purpose—to manufacture high-performance, wood fiber insulation for the first time in North America. Our boards, batts and loose fill, building on wood fiber’s two-decade legacy of proven market success in Europe, offer best-in-class insulation solutions—safe, cost competitive, sustainable. TimberHP is a value-added, innovative product line for Maine’s new forest economy.

Black and white photo of an industrial factory building near a body of water in Madison Maine, with its reflection visible in the water and a cloudy sky in the background.
A smiling man with gray hair and a beard, wearing a dark zip-up sweater, standing against a wooden wall background.

2018

Matthew O’Malia & GO Logic on Architect Magazine’s Architect 50 list

A modern high-performance wooden house with large windows and a metal roof, surrounded by trees, with people gathered outside, some sitting and some standing, in what appears to be a social event.

2019

OPAL launched as standalone architecture practice by Matthew O’Malia with partners Timothy Lock and Riley Pratt

A man with short, wavy hair and a wide smile revealing his teeth. He's wearing a striped shirt and standing in front of a wooden wall with visible knots and grain patterns.
Partial view of a middle-aged man's face with light hair, wearing a light-colored jacket and a dark shirt, standing in front of a wooden wall.

Timothy Lock AIA

Riley Pratt

Modern CLT all-wood passive-house with wood exterior and patio, located near a lake, with trees and sky in the background.

2020

Panelized Prototype House using CLT & WFI

The house’s complex geometry presented a challenging test case for CLT construction, but careful detailing allowed us to specify prefabricated, solid-lumber panels for the building’s structural walls, ceilings, and roof. Left exposed on the interior, the panels also constitute the finish surfaces at the walls and ceilings. This solid CLT building shell is encased with rigid wood fiber insulation boards—yielding a Passive House level of energy efficiency—and sheathed in prefinished ash siding and exterior trim. Because the shell has no conventional stud or rafter cavities, utility runs were affixed to the exterior of the CLT panels and the insulation boards carved and fitted around them. To minimize dependency on the power grid, the project incorporates Tesla’s Solar Roof and Powerwall technology to generate and store electricity.

Architecture Credit: OPAL

Photography Credit: Trent Bell

Construction workers and supervisors inspecting the framing of a new building under construction, with partially finished walls, construction materials, and a dumpster in the background.

2020

Matthew O’Malia Receives Lewis Family CEO Environmental Responsibility Award from the Alnoba Foundation

A house covered in snow surrounded by a forest with snow-covered ground.

2021

Replicable Modular Design Concept Development & Prototype

The core of the Replicable CLT construction system is an innovative all-wood panel made from cross-laminated timber (CLT), which for this project was manufactured in Quebec by Nordic Structures. The structural CLT panels were assembled quickly - in house-of-cards - fashion into a solid-wood building shell.

Architecture Credit: OPAL

Photography Credit: Trent Bell

  • 2023 AIA Maine Citation Award

  • 2023 AIA New England Merit Award

Wooden framework of a building under construction with a clear blue sky and trees in the background.

2021

OPAL Build founded

Dave Miller named Head of Construction

Black and white photo of a man smiling widely, wearing a plaid shirt and a dark baseball cap, lying on a wooden surface.
Construction workers building a house foundation with wooden framing, a crane lifting wooden panels, and various construction equipment on site.

2021

Prototype: CLT School

This new freestanding 1,000-square-foot building is part of a site master plan OPAL Architecture developed for Cornerspring Montessori School in Belfast, Maine.

  • Employs Passive House-level energy performance

  • Includes cross-laminated timber and wood fiber insulation in prefabricated, all-wood panels that are quickly assembled to provide the structure, thermal insulation, and interior finish for an entire building envelope.

  • To execute the project, the all-wood panels were fabricated at our Madison, ME facility, loaded onto trucks, and assembled onsite in just two days using a crane and our in-house installation crew.

  • In partnership with building science graduate students at the University of Maine, we outfitted the building envelope with over 50 sensors to be able to measure moisture and temperature performance through time. As a data driven company, this information will provide valuable build performance feedback.

Inside a large-scale workshop showing construction materials such as large stacks of wood fiber insulation, CLT panels and boards, a green lift, and workers. A large American flag is hanging on the wall.

2022

OPAL Build secures Manufacturing Space in Belfast, Maine

The Belfast Armory, built in the 1940s for the National Guard becomes OPAL Build’s new home. The space is used for the panelization process, combining large CNC cut CLT panels with wood fiber insulation and windows and doors.

  • OPAL Build begins collaboration with consultant Ed Hansen on production and lean manufacturing concept

A modern house with multiple gray wooden structures on a grassy hillside, surrounded by tall trees, under a partly cloudy sky.

2022

Developer Jefrey DuBard joins OPAL Build as first Network Partner

Jefrey and OPAL Build collaborate on a collection of repeatable building designs to be constructed as a test case on Martha’s Vineyard.

Nicholas Farmer joins team as Director of Development, Finance & Strategy

A smiling man with short dark hair and a beard, wearing a plaid shirt, standing in front of a wooden wall.
Construction site with wooden framework, two workers wearing safety gear, located outdoors with trees in the background.

2023

Mass Timber Installation: Three Story Student Housing

  • OPAL Build installs Mass Timber & CLT structure for a 3-story, 12,000 SF 46-bed student dormitory at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME.

  • Designed by OPAL Architecture, this project includes a biogenic mass timber structure, paired with wood infill walls and wood fiber insulation. The all-wood assembly sequesters biogenic carbon while performing at Passive House energy levels, upholding the highest standards of sustainability.

  • Maine Biz Article

Wooden framing and beams of a building under construction, with a blue sky and trees in the background.
A flatbed truck loaded with large packages of lumber being unloaded at a dock next to a boat. 
Photo: Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership

2023

Remote Island Lab Building CLT Panel Manufacturing & Installation

Designed by OPAL Architecture, the Hurricane Island Field Research Station is located on a remote island in Penobscot Bay and houses laboratory space for the island’s research programming.

  • The passive-house envelope is designed to minimize power consumption for the solar micro-grid that powers the campus, keeping emission and environmental impact to a minimum.

    “When you take the wood fiber insulation and the cross-laminated timber, you’re talking about an all-wood construction system which is renewable, recyclable and carbon storing with a negative carbon footprint..”

    - Matt O'Malia

  • Maine Biz article

A modern CLT wooden laboratory on stilts by the water, with a dock extending into a calm body of water and a forested shoreline in the background.
Two men in safety vests and glasses standing inside an industrial warehouse or factory, with stacks of boxes and machinery in the background.

2024

Matthew O’Malia and Joshua Henry named MaineBiz Business Leaders of the Year

TimberHP Business Leaders

A man in a green jacket and glasses stands in front of a white projection screen in a white brick room, giving a presentation to a seated audience. Several people are watching, some with laptops, and there is a white round table with a laptop and projector in front of the presenter.

2024

OPAL Build continues work with Advanced Composites Lab Graduate Students at University of Maine

Cort Trejo joins team as Project Manager

A black-and-white photo of a smiling man with short hair, wearing a plaid shirt, standing in front of a wooden wall.

Nathan Black joins team as Head of Engineering & DfMA

Black and white photo of a smiling man with short hair, wearing a checked shirt and a zip-up fleece, against a wooden wall background.
A modern pre-fabricated bathroom "pod" with white tiled walls and gray floor tiles. There is a wall-mounted toilet, a small white vanity with a sink, and a towel hanging on a rack. An open door leads to a construction area with tools and equipment.

2024

First Modular Bathroom Pod constructed offsite in the Armory

Link to Bathroom Pod Video

Line drawing of the NotchSB logo above the word 'NOTCH SB' in large, outlined letters.

2024

OPAL Build rebranded as NotchSB