This course covers a specific advanced topic in the area of Building Technology in a seminar/workshop format that combines students in their in their fourth and fifth year of the undergraduate program with advanced level graduate students. The elective options might include topics from the area of structures, building energy, and material ecologies, and vary from year to year. SECTION DESCRIPTIONOver the last few years, the utilization of mass timber construction methods has gone from fringe oddity to widely favored first choice for many new buildings being designed and built. The environmental and economic advantages of using wood over concrete and steel alternatives are now widely accepted and embraced in both for-profit and non-profit development projects, and demand of materials has now outstripped the ability of the industry to increase supply to meet demand. The conversation has shifted from “why to use mass timber”, to “how can we get it at a reasonable cost and schedule”.In this challenging new environment for the architecture and construction field, our ongoing series of building technology seminars exploring mass timber construction shifts focus this semester on examining existing available systems, along with their strengths, liabilities and supply-chain challenges, and then exploring and proposing new systems and products based on current realities, through the lens of a specific example community that needs buildings, employment, and forest-product related products.Beginning with courses in the fall 2022 semester, several CCA faculty members have initiated a series of collaborations with the timber-producing community of Greenville, California, which was severely impacted by the catastrophic Dixie fire in 2021. Lost in the fire were many homes and commercial buildings, but also many businesses and employment opportunities, and the community is challenged with replacing both its physical and economic infrastructures. In this seminar, we will use our lens of developing timber-related building products and systems that will help rebuild the economic base for the community. Students will work in small teams to design and propose timber products and related entrepreneurial opportunities based on the resources of the community, and at the same time contribute to the larger challenge of expanding the mass timber offerings in the larger industry supply chain. A complementary Integrated Studio offered this semester by the same instructor will focus on mass timber construction, students are welcome to take either or both courses.

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