Jonathan Wright of Wright Builders speaks about their Living Building Challenge projects

Jonathan Wright of Wright Builders speaks about their Living Building Challenge projects

In the second BCT lecture of the fall season, Jonathan Wright of Wright Builders spoke about "Building at the Edge of Sustainability" as exemplified in their various Living Building Challenge projects. In his engaging talk, he outlined the process behind the Kern Center at Hampshire College and various other buildings and also provided an outlook for the future of sustainable construction. Synopsis Mr. Wright, a graduate of Hampshire College, has been an active regional leader in sustainable design and construction since 1976. The firm he co-owns, Wright Builders, Inc., recently completed two Living Building Challenge projects (R.W. Kern Center & Hitchcock Center for the Environment) achieving the highest standard of renewable and resilient design and construction. His upcoming book Spirit of the Makers will be published by Ecotone Press in 2019. His journalism has spanned several decades, and in 2018 his poetry and photograph collection Season of Dreams joined the 2014 poetry collection, After the Rain. Links Presentation slides Wright Builders Living Building Challenge Presentation Slides https://youtu.be/qN128ZRIveo...
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Marc Rivard of WoodWorks presents on new opportunities in MassTimber

Marc Rivard of WoodWorks presents on new opportunities in MassTimber

The first talk of our Fall 2018 BCT Lecture Series was given by Marc Rivard from WoodWorks. He outlined the many technological possibilities that exist with new wood-based building materials such as cross-laminated timber, nail-laminated timber, and various others, many of which have been used in the construction of the Olver Design Building at UMass. Synopsis Mr. Rivard is Regional Manager at WoodWorks, an initiative of the Wood Products Council providing free project assistance as well as education and resources related to the design of non-residential wood buildings. Mr. Rivard’s background in Structural Engineering with 15 years of relevant design experience using all of the major building materials, allows him to provide practical and cost effective solutions for Architects and Engineers. https://youtu.be/-eWk8sbdVrE Links Presentation Slides WoodWorks - Wood Products Council ...
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Mockups Help Students Understand Building Technologies

Mockups Help Students Understand Building Technologies

June 25, 2018 Inside the John W. Olver Design Building–itself a teaching tool for builders and architects–the Building and Construction Technology program (BCT) has built eight movable, full-scale mockups of building assemblies to help students see how modern building components go together in the real world. At home in front of a class or wheeled into public view in the Olver atrium, the mockups display the complexity of roofs, walls, windows and floors, and the intricacies, sequences and attachment methods the multiple layers of these assemblies require. Current building technology, whether commercial or residential, has grown more complex under the demands of climate change and energy costs, and it is critical to understand how each component of a building’s “envelope” responds to the physics of heat, liquid water, water vapor and air. The mockups reveal each layer in cutaway with adjacent QR codes to supply more detailed information. The mockups were built by BCT lecturer L. Carl Fiocchi in collaboration with student Alexander Okscin,...
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BCT Alumnus Profile: Alison Moynihan (MS ’13)

BCT Alumnus Profile: Alison Moynihan (MS ’13)

We recently caught up with Alison Moynihan, who graduated from our Professional Master's program in Building Systems and is now Technical Assistant at Foard Panel. She provided some perspective on her career as well as advice for other students: "I entered the Building Systems Master’s Program at UMass after having done my undergraduate work in architecture. Graduating in 2010, when most architects were out of work, my undergrad education was not enough to even get me in the door as a gofer. I did an unpaid internship and realized I was far more interested in green building and construction technology than traditional architecture, which happened to perfectly coincide with the Environmental Conservation Building Systems Master’s Program. I spent two years learning a little engineering, a little material science, a little conservation, and a lot of building science. While in school I found a local Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) manufacturer, Foard Panel, to do an internship with in order to write my thesis. I am...
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Polymer Science’s Al Crosby gives talk about pressure-sensitive tapes

Polymer Science’s Al Crosby gives talk about pressure-sensitive tapes

For the last talk of our BCT Spring 2018 lecture series, Prof. Al Crosby from Polymer Science at UMass Amherst spoke about the many uses of adhesion in construction and the principles behind them. He especially focused on tapes and the mechanics of their pressure-sensitive adhesive behavior. Synopsis: Adhesives are used widely in building construction and are prone to play an increasingly important role in future construction processes and structures as new materials and new standards are established. In this presentation, I will provide a brief review of the basic structure and properties of pressure sensitive adhesives, as well as an introduction to the Geckskin™ technology, which can sustain large forces, permit easy release, and be reused without loss in performance. https://youtu.be/gX2GRfW5aj8 Links: Crosby Research Group ...
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