Wood products are one of the most widely used construction materials in the United States, especially for low- to mid-rise residential structures. However, surveys conducted by the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) indicate that while many structural engineers graduating from accredited university programs have taken required courses on concrete and steel design, generally they have not been provided with even a basic understanding of timber engineering.
AWC is seeking to change that. Among AWC’s efforts, we recently joined with other partners to co-sponsor the Timber Strong Design-Build competition for students at the American Society of Civil Engineer’s (ASCE) Pacific Southwest Conference. These conferences are an annual three-day regional meeting during which a competition is held for students to put their civil or environmental engineering skills to the test. In April 2018, the Pacific Southwest Conference included its first-ever competition for timber, appropriately named Timber Strong Design Build, with approximately 1,500 students competing on 15 university teams.
For the competition, teams had to develop a wood-framed structure scaled within a 4’ x 6’ x 6’ box. Teams were required to create a preliminary design and final bid report, and needed to discuss the integration of sustainable systems within the design of their model structure, such as rainwater capture systems or solar paneling.
San Diego State University (pictured) was the winner of this year’s competition, on which AWC was joined by the Binational Softwood Lumber Council and Simpson Strong-Tie as co-sponsors. Both the ASCE-Structural Engineering Institute Wood Education Committee and NCSEA Basic Education Committee also supported the effort.
Next year’s Pacific Southwest Conference host, California Polytechnic State University, as well as other ASCE regional conferences, have voiced interest in repeating the timber competition. We hope to see more of these initiatives that encourage young engineers to learn how to effectively design with timber.