CAD Archives | Building and Construction Technology

Summer 2022 Sustainable Building (Online and UWW) Courses are Now Available

April 5, 2022April 6, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

Our Summer 2022 online and UWW professional-education courses and programs are now available and you can start registering for those. See below for a listing of our courses, which start either May 19 or July 11. New this year is also a three-week credited "City-Lab" summer pre-college program for High School students in Newton, MA (in-person). You can learn more about this exciting opportunity here. You can always find our current UWW courses and enroll at this link (search for BCT or ECO under “Subject”): Find Courses and Enroll Courses Construction Estimating (BCT 314) - Any successful building construction project relies on accurate and consistent cost estimates. This course provides students with the skills and background to perform construction estimating, bidding, and cost management. Lectures will cover quantity take-off from construction documents and estimate costs for material, labor, equipment, overhead, and profit. Students are required to prepare and submit a formal bid which details an estimate for a building construction project. Furthermore, students will also...

BCT Summer and Fall Continuing Education Courses and Events at Mount Ida Campus in Newton Announced

April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

BCT is again offering continuing education courses and professional-focused events at UMass Amherst's new Mount Ida Campus in Newton, MA. Extend your knowledge and expand your professional horizon with BCT’s continuing education courses. Join us for convenient after-work in-person courses or learn online at your own pace. Continuing Education Courses and Academic Programs Our upcoming courses (at Mount Ida, online, or in Amherst) are: Sustainable Building and LEED Certification (Summer 2019) Online | BCT 414 (undergraduate) Instructor: Ho-Sung Kim | 3 credits | Course details | Register Sustainable Building and LEED Certification (Summer 2019) Online | ECO 697DL (graduate) Instructor: Ho-Sung Kim | 3 credits | Course details | Register Introduction to Building Energy Modeling (Fall 2019) Mount Ida Campus | BCT 597BE Instructor: Peter Levy | 3 credits | In-Person | Course details | Register Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering, and the Construction Process (Fall 2019) Mount Ida Campus | BCT 597N Instructor: Steve O’Neill, Esq. | 3 credits | Hybrid (In-Person + Online) | Course details | Register Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering, and the Construction Process (Fall 2019) Amherst Campus | BCT 597N Instructor: Steve O’Neill, Esq. | 3 credits | Hybrid (In-Person + Online)...

Students in BCT’s 3D CAD & BIM course participate in library project on maker competencies

February 2, 2018February 3, 2018 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

As part of this spring's BCT 420 and ECO 620 courses (both taught by Alex Schreyer, BCT Program Director), students will explore making and digital fabrication, which will inform a curriculum pilot study by the University of Texas on this topic. The UMass library has been chosen as one of several collaborators nationwide and will guide the local implementation of this study. Press release below... Libraries Chosen as Partner in Maker Competencies, Curriculum Pilot Study February 1, 2018 The UMass Amherst Libraries has been chosen by the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) and the University of Nevada-Reno as one of four additional university partners to participate in a pilot study entitled Maker Competencies and the Undergraduate Curriculum. Funded by a $49,800 National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the study seeks to explore the impacts of academic library makerspaces–spaces with technological resources and equipment for project-based collaboration–on undergraduate student learning. Sarah Hutton, head of undergraduate teaching and learning services at the...

Schreyer Authors New Edition of ‘Fundamentals of Residential Construction’

April 19, 2017September 29, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

Alexander Schreyer, director of the building and construction technology (BCT) program, has revised and expanded “Fundamentals of Residential Construction” to produce the fourth edition of the guide to professional construction of single-family and multifamily homes. Schreyer joins Edward Allen, formerly of MIT, Yale University and the University of Oregon, and Robert Thallon of the University of Oregon, who wrote the book’s previous editions. The new edition, which is being published by John Wiley & Sons, promises to be essential to the process of learning about residential construction, according to the publisher. “Construction is a slow-changing industry, but it changes, and keeping up with that is really important,” said Schreyer. “It was really exciting to be able to join this book as one of the authors so we can keep pushing the envelope and teach about residential construction. There are lots of people that need to know about it, want to know about it, and want to be builders or build their own...

New Trimble Technology Lab Gift to UMass Amherst Expands Training and Research for Building Design and Fabrication

January 26, 2017March 12, 2018 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and AMHERST, Mass., – A significant in-kind gift from Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) will expand the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s leadership in training and research in 3D building design, digital fabrication and the sustainable built environment. Partnering with Trimble allows UMass Amherst to more fully integrate across its curricula the technological tools that are rapidly transforming how building and living environments are designed and constructed. The gift will establish the 1,300-square-foot Trimble Technology Lab in the new Design Building at UMass Amherst. The lab will include equipment such as Trimble’s laser scanners, advanced robotic surveying systems, imaging rovers, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and many of Trimble’s software packages including RealWorks® scanning software, Trimble Business Center, Vico Office Suite, GCEstimator™ Suite, Tekla® Structures, Sefaira Architecture and its popular 3D modeling software SketchUp Pro. Potential applications of these technologies range from the scanning of historic buildings to ensure their preservation, design and 3D printing of architectural building models, digital fabrication of...