Wood Design Award 2008 Call For Entries

If you have built an outstanding wood structure between January 2005 and September 2008, then consider submitting it to the 2008 Wood Award. The main categories are: Non-residential, Institutional, Architectural Interiors Commercial – Small, Large Residential – Single Family, Multi-family Remodeled – Non-residential, Residential International Building Deadline for submissions is Monday, November 10, 2008 and […] Read more..

Say goodbye to the old mountain hut

If your mental image of a Swiss mountain hut consists of a small, weathered log hut with gable roof encircled by flowing meadows and grazing cows, think again. Or rather look up! All the way to an altitude of 2883 meters (9,500 ft) near Zermatt in Switzerland. That’s where in September 2009 you’ll find the […] Read more..

A house made of pallets

A team from the TU Vienna in Austria was one of the three winners of a European architectural design competition under the title “A Minimum House for Leisure in the XXI century.” Their winning entry was a house made entirely of shipping pallets. Similar to the recycling of metal shipping containers, this is a great […] Read more..

New Wood Design Software Options Coming Up

When it comes to architectural or structural design of wood buildings, there are only a few software packages available in North America (compared to what is out there for steel or concrete design). While these (e.g. cadwork, Dietrich’s, IES VisualDesign and more here and here) have great tools to design and size anything from a […] Read more..

Richmond Olympic Oval Design

FYI: There is a very interesting conversation on the DesignReForm forum about the Richmond Oval for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Topics are its design and fabrication, differences between Revit and Inventor and why the designer/fabricator StructureCraft Builders of Vancouver settled on the latter. Read on…

Wood Design Photo Series: Brentwood Skytrain Station

I only have a few pictures of this structure, which were all taken during a rushed visit to the station. Nevertheless, the roof structure of this station is a great example for curved glulam and for CNC prefabrication of wood. If I remember right, most connections are timber rivets and lag bolts.