Mass Timber Today

Episode Summary:

In this episode, our guest is Patrick Crabbe. Patrick is the Director of Mass Timber at Bird Construction – Bird is a publicly traded, commercial and industrial conglomerate, recognized as a top 5 General Contractor (GC) in Canada.

Patrick is also the leader of a Mass Timber Manufacturing start-up, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. MTC is a sawmill integrated, glulam focused entity, that is currently executing a $2.3M feasibility effort to code approve proprietary high performing mass timber products (made from undervalued-commodity maritime spruce, pine and fir) that will expand the needed capacity of North American mass timber products and positively impact sustainable forestry practises. 

Patrick’s professional career has been dedicated to developing markets for high-value structural wood products and working with industry to facilitate the manufacturing of mass timber. Through this experience, Patrick has a comprehensive understanding of construction contract methods supply chain solutions to set-up large, complex, mass timber build programs for success.

Patrick is an active member of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (led by the World Bank) and a trusted advisor to Infrastructure British Columbia and the Canadian Wood Council.

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Resources:

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Craig Applegath has a conversation with Franco Piva. Franco is known as the Italian Timber Engineer and Founder of engineering company Ergodomus. His focus lies in sustainable timber projects around the world. Craig and Franco discuss the sustainability of mass timber as well as key challenges currently preventing the global adoption of mass timber. They also cover mass timber innovations Franco sees in his work, and the role that architects and engineers play in design for manufacture and assembly.

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Episode Summary:

In this episode, our host, Anne Koven speaks with Lacey Rose with the County of Renfrew in Ontario, Canada. Lacey is a Registered Professional Forester with the province of Ontario. In this episode, we investigate where the wood used in mass timber comes from in Canada, and how Lacey plays a part in ensuring this wood supply is sustainable, and what sustainable forestry really means. This conversation will really help builders and architects contextualize the origins of the wood they use.

About Lacey

Lacey’s work experience has ranged from field work in the Boreal forest, to writing a forest management plan for 250,000 hectares of Crown forest in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence forest, to now the hands-on management of the Renfrew County Forest, as the County Forester. In 2019, Lacey was the recipient of the James M. Kitz Award from the Canadian Institute of Forestry and the Forest Sector Champion Award from the Ontario Forest Industry Association. In 2017, she received the John H. Sellers Award from the Ontario Professional Foresters Association.

Outside of these roles, Lacey is the Co-Founder of Women in Wood, a network for women who work with, in and for the woods, and the host of the web-series “Mighty Jobs”. When she’s not working in the forest, she’s usually still talking about or hanging out in forests!

In this podcast episode, we discuss forest sustainability as it applies to the supply of mass timber to answer questions architects and builders might have such as "How do I know the wood I am getting is sustainable?", and "what is involved in the process of sustainable forest management?". Lacey also addresses important connections between mass timber, forestry, and climate change.

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Podcast Page: https://academic.daniels.utoronto.ca/masstimberinstitute/the-mass-timber-today-podcast/

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Anne Koven speaks with Alan Organschi. Alan is a Design Principal and partner at Gray Organschi Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut that is recognized internationally for its integration of design, construction, and environmental research. He is also the Director of the Innovation Lab at Bauhaus Erde. Anne and Alan discuss his current work at Bauhaus Erde as well as his work at Gray Organschi architecture. Alan informs us about how we need to work to design buildings for a circular economy of mass timber that is separate from an extractive industry. They also delve into his work that exposes him to communities holding essential knowledge about forest resources they live with and their role in the use of these materials. Additionally, he touches on carbon storage in mass timber buildings and ways we can improve the cost effectiveness of mass timber construction.

You can read Alan's full professional profile here on his website: https://grayorganschi.com/

Alan's Recommended Resources:

Alan's Websites:

About Mass Timber Today

The Mass Timber Today Podcast was created by the Mass Timber Institute at the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. This podcast series will explore the opportunities and challenges of sustainable mass timber construction. You can expect one on one interviews conducted by our hosts, Dr.Anne Koven and Craig Applegath. Anne is a professor at the University of Toronto, an Honourary Registered Professional Forester and Director of the Mass Timber Institute, and Craig Applegath is the Founding Partner of DIALOG. Anne and Craig will sit down with our guests to explore their insights about mass timber technology. The podcast aims to be a platform for a conversation amongst foresters, architects, engineers, builders, Indigenous community members, and developers.

Episode Summary

This is the first episode of the Mass Timber Today series. Craig Applegath, Principal of ⁠DIALOG ⁠sits down with the two founders of the ⁠Mass Timber Institute⁠ at the University of Toronto's⁠ John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design⁠; Professor Robert Wright, and Dr. Anne Koven. In this episode, the three discuss the inception and intent of the Mass Timber Institute, as well as what listeners can expect from the Mass Timber Today Podcast series.

In This Episode

Dr. Anne Koven

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Anne’s Recommended Resources

Professor Robert Wright

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Rob’s Recommended Resources

Craig Applegath

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Craig’s Recommended Resources

About Mass Timber Today

The Mass Timber Today Podcast was created by the Mass Timber Institute at the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. This podcast series will explore the opportunities and challenges of sustainable mass timber construction. You can expect one on one interviews conducted by our hosts, Dr.Anne Koven and Craig Applegath. Anne is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto's Daniels Faculty, an Honourary Registered Professional Forester and Director of the Mass Timber Institute, and Craig Applegath is the Founding Partner of DIALOG. Anne and Craig will sit down with our guests to explore their insights about mass timber technology. The podcast aims to be a platform for a conversation amongst foresters, architects, engineers, builders, Indigenous community members, and developers.

Episode Summary

In this trailer, Shan Shukla, Research Coordinator at the Mass Timber Institute (MTI) takes a minute to introduce the Institute's newest project: The Mass Timber Today Podcast. Shan touches on what listeners can expect from the podcast in the future, and some goals the Institute hopes the podcast will help it achieve.

Connect with Shan

⁠⁠⁠Shan's Recommended Resources: