Shearwall Connections and Lateral Systems for Wood Buildings
Course Overview
This comprehensive course delves into the latest advancements in wood shearwall systems and connections, featuring critical updates from the 2020 National Building Code of Canada (NBCC). This course will cover essential topics, including advancements in lateral systems and rod holdowns, and provide a step-by-step approach to accurately calculating deflection for rod holdowns. Dive into key details on relevant connections and fasteners that enhance performance and resilience. The session will culminate with a overview of the outcomes of a groundbreaking 10-storey mass timber seismic test conducted in San Diego as part of the NHERI Tall Wood Project, showcasing how these innovations perform under real-world conditions. This webinar is designed for engineers, architects, and construction professionals looking to stay current with advancements in seismic design for wood structures.
Learning Objectives
Gain insights into the latest advancements in seismic and lateral force-resisting systems for timber construction.
Learn effective methods for calculating deflection in rod hold-down systems, ensuring compliance with structural performance standards.
Explore best practices and expert recommendations for specifying connections in shearwalls to optimize strength and resilience.
Understand key findings from the NHERI TallWood test, highlighting lessons from the tallest mass timber building ever tested on a shake table.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Tim Wagner, P.Eng., MBA Field Engineer Simpson Strong-Tie
Tim joined Simpson Strong-Tie in 2014 as an EIT, and earned his Professional Engineering designation in 2018. His primary role is building relationships with specifiers in western Canada, with major focuses on connections, lateral systems fasteners and anchors.
Mass Timber Construction at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
Course Overview
Canadian Nuclear Labs’ Chalk River Laboratories comprise the largest single complex in Canada’s science and technology community. The site contains more than 50 unique facilities and laboratories including a three new buildings constructed with mass timber.
These three buildings are the focus of a detailed environmental impact study. This webinar will offer a case study of the three buildings and share the results of the environmental impact study. Topics covered by the presentation include: -Why Wood? (drivers that led CNL to chose mass timber) -Carbon Impact (operational, embodied, sequestered, avoided, and a life cycle assessment) -Procurement (Integrated Project Delivery Method) -Building Performance (construction elements, energy performance, envelope performance, fire performance, durability, resiliency, and potential for adaptive reuse) -Code Requirements (regulatory approvals, permit process)
The projects are considered successful examples of sustainable procurement aligning with the ‘greening government’ strategy which supports the Government’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, and includes a 40% reduction by 2025 for federal facilities.
Learning Objectives
Understand the strategic importance of using mass timber construction at CNL and its alignment with sustainability goals, including carbon reduction and the promotion of sustainable building practices.
Analyze the logistical and engineering challenges associated with implementing mass timber in a large-scale infrastructure project.
Evaluate the benefits of mass timber in the context of operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact.
Discuss the implications of mass timber construction for future building projects in terms of regulatory compliance, market trends, and technological advancements.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Donald Chong, OAA, MRAIC, B.Arch Design Principal, Associate Vice President HDR
Don has firmly established himself in Toronto’s architecture culture through his inventiveness and investment in placemaking. His project skills volley between the strategic planning of urban and institutional work through to the detailing of finely crafted furniture, as well as research-based design. Don has held numerous design conference speaking engagements, from the Wood at Work Conference to the Architectural League of New York, and has been featured in print publications, such as Design Lines, related to mass timber design.
Susan Croswell, OAA, MRAIC Project Delivery Principal HDR
Susan is a project architect with over 27 years of diversified experience. Her expertise in both architectural design and technology allows her to excel in the profession from concept design through to contract administration. Susan’s ability to deliver complex projects and documentation on time is a hallmark of her work and is achieved through effective leadership and teamwork. She has developed a reputation as a highly competent, efficient, effective and approachable project architect who loves the challenges that each and every project brings to the team. Some of her recent, award-winning projects include the CNL Chalk River Laboratories “New Builds,” Queen’s University John Deutsch University Centre, and Kingston Frontenac Public Library.
Ryan Zizzo, PEng, MASc, LEED AP ND Founder & CEO Mantle Developments
Ryan Zizzo is a professional engineer and Founder & CEO at Mantle Developments, a consultancy focused on climate-smart infrastructure and buildings, based in Toronto. Mantle helps projects go beyond energy efficiency, incorporating resilience, embodied carbon emissions, and life cycle approaches to make projects future-proof and net-zero carbon ready. Ryan is a recognized leader in helping large organizations and governments transition to a low-carbon future. He has directly supported the Government of Canada, several provincial Ministries, the City of Toronto, the YMCA of Greater Toronto, and numerous developers, property managers, and real estate investors.
Joining Tradition and Innovation with Mass timber Connections
Course Overview
An overview of traditional, state of the art and innovative wood fasteners and connectors. This course is of particular interest to structural engineers and design professionals interested in structural engineering.
Learning Objectives
Wood Properties and their influence on timber connection design.
Overview of traditional, state-of-the-art and innovative fasteners and connectors.
Ductility and durability aspects in connection with dowel type fasteners.
Modern carpentry – a resurrection of traditional framing through CNC.
Best practices for the design of mass timber connections.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Patrick Geers Senior Structural Designer, Head of Quality Control Western Archrib
As the company’s senior engineering designer Patrick is in charge of the design of structural wood systems including fabricated steel connections and hardware He is involved in the development and presentation of building proposals to support sales efforts and cooperates with the production team to develop manufacturing solutions In addition, he is responsible for the supervision of quality control department Patrick has over 17 years experience in the glulam industry an currently sits on CSA 086 Sub-committee.
Gestimat Toward Low Carbon Construction
Course Overview
Gestimat facilitates the assessment of the carbon footprint of buildings. Developed in Quebec for the Wood Charter and financed by the Fonds vert, Gestimat is also available in English since April 2020. This new web-based tool estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to structural materials used in different building scenarios. Scenario modelling can be done during preliminary design using estimation from typical buildings or, further in the design, by entering quantities of materials specific to a given project.
Learning Objectives
Learn about the possibilities of the GESTIMAT tool.
Understand principles behind the calculations in GESTIMAT.
Evaluate the applicability of GESTIMAT for your projects.
Learn how to create a GESTIMAT analysis for a preliminary project.
Learn how to modify a GESTIMAT analysis to adapt the quantities of materials to a specific project.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Caroline Frenette, Eng., Ph. D. Technical Advisor Cecobois
Over the past 30 years, Caroline Frenette has developed expertise in timber structures and sustainable construction. After her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the Université de Sherbrooke, her interest in wood construction led her to undertake a master’s degree on the seismic behaviour of timber structures at the University of British Columbia. She worked for several years in France and Austria designing timber and hybrid structures in a specialized engineering firm. She was also involved in the construction of an experimental bioclimatic house, a personal project using biobased materials and innovative building technologies. She pursued her interest for sustainable construction during her doctoral thesis on multicriteria analysis of wood-framed walls, studying several aspects of building performance, including environmental impact based on Life Cycle Assessment. Technical advisor with Cecobois since 2009, Caroline is also adjunct professor in the Department of Wood and Forest Sciences and teaching at the Centre de formation en développement durable (CFDD) at Université Laval, and a member of the Centre de recherche sur les matériaux renouvelables (CRMR).
Global Lessons from Local Forests
Course Overview
Through the example of the Biomass Power Plant at Hotchkiss School this presentation highlights distinctive and sustainable infrastructure. This Biomass Power Plant was designed to do double duty as a living classroom. It exposes ecologically friendly technologies and sustainable construction materials to students and community groups through public tours. Attendees will see how an industrial building can also be beautiful and how sustainable and local materials can be incorporated into local infrastructure in ways that include and invite the community into the building and the operations of a Biomass facility.
Learning Objectives
How wood structure can complement sustainable design.
Appropriate uses for Glulam in the design of industrial and institutional construction.
Conservation features under LEED that include: a renewable, laminated wood structural system; water-conserving plumbing fixtures; use of local materials with a high recycled content; an abundance of daylight inside; and highly efficient mechanical systems, lighting, and exterior skin.
Infrastructure that connects and informs the local community and visitors, how the facility has become an integral part of the school’s commitment to becoming a carbon neutral campus by 2020.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Alan D Paradis, RA, Leed AP Associate Centerbrook Architects and Planners, LLP. – Connecticut, USA
Dowel Laminated Timber A new mass timber product in North America
Course Overview
Dowel‐laminated timber is a next generation mass timber product commonly used in Europe, where it is also known as brettstapel. Panels are made from softwood lumber boards stacked like the boards of NLT, friction‐fit together with hardwood beech dowels instead of nails. DLT is the only mass timber product which is 100 per cent wood – it involves no glue or nails. Unique to DLT as a mass timber product, acoustic profiles can be integrated directly into the bottom surface of a panel. DLT panels processed using CNC machinery create a high tolerance panel which can also contain pre‐integrated electrical conduit and other service runs. StructureCraft will be the first manufacturer of DLT in North America, with a new automated manufacturing line and plant beginning production in 2017. This presentation will discuss how DLT differs from other mass timber products in its use and specification. Topics will include potential applications, introduction to the design and construction process and costs.
Learning Objectives
What is Dowel Laminated Timber?
Potential applications of DLT.
Introduction to design and construction detailing.
Product availability and cost.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Lucas Epp Head of Engineering StructureCraft
Lucas Epp is a structural engineer with 10 years of experience working throughout Canada, the UK, and New Zealand. While in London he designed a range of projects with world class architects and developed an expertise in complex geometry and challenging structures. Lucas leads the engineering department at StructureCraft where he has been involved in large-scale timber structures including the 2012 Vancouver Olympics Oval and more recently as lead engineer for the T3 Minneapolis office building.
Efficient Tall Wall Framing using Engineered Wood Products
Course Overview
This webinar will explore the basic design principles and best practices for efficient tall wall design using engineered wood products. Discussion will include material selection, design for climate conditions, and a complete design example using freely available software tools.
Learning Objectives
Understand the design principles and inputs required to size tall wall framing members.
Recognize some of the pitfalls of inadequate tall wall design.
Learn about easy-to-use tools and software available to simplify this process.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Steve McManus Senior Engineer Weyerhaeuser
Steve McManus, a professional engineer based in Langley, BC, supports Weyerhaeuser’s Trus Joist® Engineered Lumber Products in residential and light commercial construction. He provides technical support, training, and field issue resolution for suppliers, architects, engineers, and building officials across Canada.
Steve’s 27 years of experience in the forest industry includes structural design and engineering, forest management, and wood products manufacturing.
Diversify Your Structural Portfolio: Wood in Low-Rise Commercial Construction
Course Overview
This course will explore the use cases for incorporating more wood into a sector that is typically dominated by structural steel construction. We will look at Light Wood Framing (LWF), Structural Composite Lumber (SCL), Mass Timber (MT), and Hybrid Systems that may incorporate any or all of these materials, as well as structural steel. What is important is using the right material in the right application. Several examples from the CWC Publication “Low-Rise Commercial Construction in Wood: A guide for Architects and Engineers”, as well as real project examples from the presenter.
Learning Objectives
Identify strengths and weaknesses of various wood products.
Learn to select the right wood material/system for the most efficient and cost effective structure.
Highlight critical details and identify potential red flags to ensure a successful project.
Provide useful examples, resources and tools for the practitioner to add to their “tool belt”.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Alex Nowakowksi Engineer, Senior Associate, and Barrie Team Lead Tacoma Engineers
Alex is a Professional Engineer, Senior Associate, and Barrie Team Lead for Tacoma Engineers. Alex has been with Tacoma Engineers since 2012. As a Senior Structural Engineer and Project Manager, Alex has been the Primary Structural Engineer and Specialty Structural Engineer on a wide variety of wood projects in the Commercial, Institutional, Multi-Family, Agricultural and Residential Sectors.
Design Options for Three and Four Storey Wood School Buildings in British Columbia
Course Overview
There are currently a number of planned new school projects throughout British Columbia that require either three ‐ or four‐storey buildings, and this demand is increasing as land values continue to rise. Though timber construction offers a viable option for these buildings, code constraints have limited timber schools to a maximum of two storeys while also imposing overall floor area limitations. Consequently, the development of viable structural options for larger timber school buildings has lagged. This session will explore the range of possible timber construction approaches for school buildings up to four storeys in height within a seismic region.
Learning Objectives
21st century school planning principles and their impact on timber building construction.
Timber vertical load‐bearing systems with a focus on the technical considerations and architectural implications related to school buildings.
Timber lateral force‐resisting systems with a focus on the technical considerations and architectural implications related to school buildings.
Comparison of a few possible design concepts for four‐storey timber school buildings.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Nick Bevilacqua Associate Principal Fast + Epp
With 15 years of industry experience, Nick has a broad experience base that enables him to be fluent in all building types and primary structural materials. Nick has considerable experience in the education sector, and is currently working on a number of schools throughout the province that feature various configurations and degrees of timber construction.
Ray Wolfe Partner Thinkspace Architecture Planning and Interior Design
Ray is an architect and partner at Thinkspace Architecture Planning and Interior Design. He is an award‐winning architect with a focus on institutional and specifically education projects. As a practicing architect, Ray has been involved in advancing the knowledge of topics such as modular construction, school area standards and a variety of studies involving the use of wood in schools with the Ministry of Education, FII and Wood WORKS!. Ray believes passive sustainable strategies and the use of wood play an important role in the next generation of education buildings in Canada.
Design Guide for Timber Concrete Composite Floors
Course Overview
As part of its work related to wooden buildings, FPInnovations recently published a comprehensive technical Guide for designing timber-concrete composite floors in Canada. This construction technique could be an economically profitable solution for longer-span floors since the mechanical properties of the two materials act in complementarity. The presentation overview of the recently published guide, which contains numerous illustrations and formulas to help the user in the design of his project. The connection systems, the ultimate and service limit states, the vibratory performance of the floor and the fire resistance is presented.
Learning Objectives
Discovering the recently published timber-concrete design guide for timber-concrete composite (TCC) floor in Canada.
Leaning the different types of connection systems for TCC floor.
How to design for serviceability and ultimate limit states.
Learning the fundamental theory of TCC floor.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Samuel Cuerrier Auclair, P.Eng., M.Sc. Scientist, Building Systems Group FPInnovations
Samuel Cuerrier Auclair completed his master thesis in 2016 at Laval University where the subject was to optimise the ductility of timber-concrete composite beams. He started to work at FPInnovations in 2015 as a scientist in building system group. He participated on the research project of several subjects as timber-concrete composite floor, the structural performance of mass-timber shear wall, the vibration performance of mass-timber floor, the acoustic performance of building and more recently on wind-vibration of tall timber building.
CLT classrooms: A pilot project in Washington State
Course Overview
A pilot project in Washington State tests the use of CLT to design and construct three modular classroom buildings in Western Washington. Funded by the Washington State Legislature, the project investigated the viability of CLT as a means to build quality K‐3 classrooms to accommodate increased population and new WA State education laws. By using CLT, the project team designed a building that could be deployed on almost any existing school site and be built over a summer break without impacting ongoing operations. Compared to traditional portable classrooms, the CLT classroom buildings are longer lasting, more functional, and aesthetically superior.
Learning Objectives
Building a broad‐based CLT coalition and the unified strategies for securing legislative state support and funding ($5.5 mil USD).
Architectural design and detailing strategies used to create an innovative learning environment by using CLT.
Project scheduling, costing, construction and lessons learned through building the modern classrooms at these three schools.
Utilizing a design‐build delivery method.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Joe Mayo, AIA LEED AP Architect Mahlum Architects
Joseph Mayo is an architect in Seattle at Mahlum and author of Solid Wood: Mass Timber Architecture, Technology and Design, the first book devoted solely to mass timber commercial buildings.
He recently completed three CLT classroom buildings in Washington State, is currently designing modular CLT townhomes and is working with a broad coalition to allow taller mass timber buildings in Washington State.
Architectural Assemblies Simplified: Understanding Structural Grids – Acoustics – and Envelopes in Wood Buildings
Course Overview
This session will help you to formulate effective floor and wall assemblies when designing wood structures, both light wood frame and mass timber. Discussion will cover typical fire ratings and strategies, acoustic performance of different assemblies and effective strategies for weather-tight exterior envelopes. Background on typical structural assemblies for different grid sizes will help you understand how to effectively develop complete assemblies when designing timber buildings.
Learning Objectives
Participants will understand how to formulate effective floor and wall assemblies for wood structures, including both light wood frame and mass timber, to optimize performance and design efficiency.
Participants will understand typical fire ratings and the acoustic performance of various assemblies and gain strategies to enhance the safety and comfort of wood buildings.
Participants will learn how to design weather-tight, high-performance exterior envelopes for wood buildings.
Participants will discover typical structural assemblies for different grid sizes and learn how to effectively develop complete assemblies when designing timber buildings.
Course Video
Speaker Bio
Michael Wilkinson Principal and Senior Building Science Engineer RDH
Michael Wilkinson is a Principal and Senior Building Science Engineer at RDH. He has provided consulting services across a range of building typologies with a focus on high performance and innovative building projects including those that are Passive House, mass timber, and volumetric modular. Michael has also been involved in numerous research projects including product development and performance monitoring and is the lead author of several guideline documents for government agencies and building enclosure product manufacturers. Additionally, Michael is a part-time instructor at the BC Institute of Technology where he teaches building science and construction technology classes.
Derek Ratzlaff, P.Eng., Struct.Eng., PE Technical Director, WoodWorks BC Canadian Wood Council
Derek began his career in the wood industry in high school working on single and multi-family light wood construction, after university and almost 20 years of structural consulting experience, Derek has worked in all types of wood construction and played key roles in the delivery of iconic BC wood structures, the Richmond Olympic Oval and Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre. He brings his experience in design and construction to support the industry as the Woodworks BC Technical Director.
Shearwall Connections and Lateral Systems for Wood Buildings
Mass Timber Construction at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
Joining Tradition and Innovation with Mass timber Connections
Gestimat Toward Low Carbon Construction
Global Lessons from Local Forests
Dowel Laminated Timber A new mass timber product in North America
Efficient Tall Wall Framing using Engineered Wood Products
Diversify Your Structural Portfolio: Wood in Low-Rise Commercial Construction
Design Options for Three and Four Storey Wood School Buildings in British Columbia
Design Guide for Timber Concrete Composite Floors
CLT classrooms: A pilot project in Washington State
Architectural Assemblies Simplified: Understanding Structural Grids – Acoustics – and Envelopes in Wood Buildings
