Course catalog

The Aspen Art Museum, designed by architect Shigeru Ban, includes a long-span three-dimensional wood space-frame roof. Ban’s charge was to create a wood space frame with spans of more than 50 feet and cantilevers of 14 feet, in a structural depth of 3 feet. The space frame was to have two planes ...

When striving for material efficiency, the design of mass timber floor and roof systems to resist horizontal wind and seismic loading through diaphragm action is an important consideration. The design of diaphragms with mass timber panels typically follows one of two load path strategies.  For ...

Balcony design in mixed-use and multi-family projects can be a challenge. Cantilevered balconies may be the most vulnerable element of the building in that they are exposed to weather and have limited structural redundancy. Not only do they require careful design and detailing to ensure safety ...

More and more often, carbon calculations are an important component of building design as ownership and design teams strive for more sustainable structures. As architects and engineers embrace carbon accounting as part of the design process, it is important to understand how to correctly account ...

Current methods of Force Transfer Around Openings (FTAO) analysis only allow for openings of the same height in exterior shear walls. However, today’s penchant for more openings of different sizes requires a more flexible method that allows for more complex wall layouts. The original method of ...

Mass timber represents a rapidly advancing technology that can be utilized as an alternative to steel and concrete to frame a variety of mid- and high-rise building types. This presentation provides an overview of available mass timber systems, with an emphasis on their advantages and unique ...

Get real business case information from leading developers who were among the first to use mass timber for commercial office buildings in the U.S. Hear first-hand how they are capitalizing on the aesthetic quality of timber buildings through leasing velocity, while realizing other benefits such ...

Wood-frame and mass timber projects, like all construction in the U.S., have long been hindered by a strong reliance on prescriptive building code limits and less willingness to use or accept performance-based fire protection engineering. However, over the past few years, a shift has occurred. ...

Multi-family housing development is undergoing a period of significant change. Rising land and construction costs have created the need for higher-level amenities and site optimization, while labor market volatility is adding urgency to technology advancements. Meanwhile, the need to reduce ...