Discussing MassTimber and the Olver Design Building on MassConstruction’s Podcast

Joseph Kelly of MassConstruction.org visited our BCT program at UMass a few weeks ago for a tour of the Olver Design Building, our award-winning home at UMass. He also brought along his microphone and taped a two-part podcast with Peggi Clouston and me about the Design Building and the current wave of new MassTimber buildings. You […] Read more..

False Color @ UMass

As anyone who follows our UMass social media feeds (@UMassBCT on Twitter and Facebook) knows, this fall we (the BCT program at UMass) organized an exhibit of some of our work under the title of “False Color”. This exhibit was up in the UMass Design Building since October 8 and will be taken down tomorrow, […] Read more..

My new book is out! Schreyer authors fourth edition of ‘Fundamentals of Residential Construction’.

UMass Press Release: 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 […] Read more..

How much abuse can Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) take?

Being about a month away from moving my office into a Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) building, I am of course interested in answers to this question. As it turns out, many recent research projects proved that CLT can evidently handle quite a bit of abuse (beyond regular day-to-day loading and use)! I may be biased, but […] Read more..

SketchUp 2017 is out. And it’s looking great!

It’s the time of year for… yes, turkey, I know! But a few days ago it was also the time of the year for the much-beloved “A new SketchUp version is available” dialog to pop into your life. If you haven’t downloaded the new version yet, but are burning to know what is new, may […] Read more..

Ciao! My SketchUp book is now available in Italian

While checking my Amazon book purchase stats I just noticed that my book “Architectural Design with SketchUp” (2nd edition) is now available in Italian. Italy being a country with one of the highest number of architects per capita, Italian is clearly one of the best languages to have translated it into. Thanks to the great folks at […] Read more..

Upgrading our Bath Fan Light – for Under $25

Our bathroom fan light was driving me crazy for a while now. No matter how much wattage I would put into it, the plastic cover only allowed for a very dim light to come out. And the arrangement of the bulb in the fixture together with the housing forced most light to emit downward and to […] Read more..