Technological advances in green buildings, digital fabrication with wood, and engineered wood products are just some of the topics that will be explored at the inaugural Wood Structures Symposium at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Nov. 1-2. Organized by Peggi Clouston of the UMass Amherst Building Materials and Wood Technology program, the event will highlight the ingenuity and new direction of contemporary wood architecture.
Wood is becoming a material of choice in award-winning, environmentally green structures and a prominent material in showcase projects at world expositions based on its environmental benefits. "In the quest for sustainable building materials, studies continually show wood as having top environmental benefits," says Clouston. "It is energy efficient in production and operation, it absorbs and stores the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and it is renewable, recyclable and sustainable."
The symposium will discuss and illustrate the latest innovations in wood engineering and construction. Topics include contemporary, world-wide wood architecture, wood and the environment, and challenges and solutions in timber frame construction. A full day workshop by the American Wood Council on the design of wood-frame buildings is also included.
Speakers include Tedd Benson of Benson Woodworking in Walpole, N.H., author of four well-known books on the art of timber framing; Robert Taylor and Sam Francis of the American Wood Council in Washington, D.C.; Leander Bathon of the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden, Germany; David Moses of Equilibrium Engineering in Toronto, Ontario; and Tim Schwartzkoff and Mark Collins of ILevel by Weyerhauser.
The symposium will be of direct benefit to architects, engineers, builders, building officials, construction technologists and educators and students of building design, engineering and architecture. AIA Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available. The symposium is sponsored by ILevel by Weyerhauser, FastenMaster and the UMass Amherst Office of Research.
Visit Wood Structures Symposium to view the program and register for the symposium.
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