Symposium

The Timber! Design Excellence Symposium will bring national and international experts together to celebrate design excellence in timber and wood.

OCTOBER 4–6, 2019


ABOUT

The University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and the U.S. Forest Service are hosting a symposium and workshop October 4-6, 2019, bringing together an international cohort of architects and engineers whose work specifically in wood demonstrates excellence in design and innovation.

This three-day summit will feature 15 internationally recognized architects and engineers whose designs in wood best illustrate the beauty and potential of wood in general and of mass timber specifically. By gathering these prominent designers and focusing their expertise and experience, the symposium seeks to elevate the perception of mass timber and wood innovation in the design community and advance its use overall.

SCHEDULE

Friday, October 4
Session 1

1:00pm Welcomes and Introductions
Dr. Joseph Steinmetz, Chancellor, University of Arkansas
The Honorable Bruce WestermanCongressional Representative, Arkansas District 4, Co-Chair, Working Forests Caucus

1:30pm Andrea Leers, Leers Weinzapfel Associates

2:10pm Anssi Lassila, OOPEAA

2:50pm Coffee

3:00pm Mikkel Bøgh, Effekt

3:40pm John Patkau, Patkau Architects

4:15pm Panel Discussion, all session 1 presenters

5:15pm Reception and Exhibition Opening
“Time for Timber”
Ulrich Dangel, UT-Austin, Exhibition Curator

Saturday, October 5
Session 2

8:30am Welcomes and Introductions
Peter MacKeith, Dean, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
Mr. Steven Marshall, Director, USDA Forest Service, Wood Innovations Program

8:40am Sebastian Irarrazaval, Sebastian Irarrazaval Arquitecto

9:20am Tanya Luthi, Entuitive

10:00am Andrew Waugh, Waugh Thistleton Architects

10:40am Coffee

11:00am Alan Organschi, Gray Organschi Architecture

11:40am Natalie Telewiak, Michael Green Architecture

12:10pm Panel Discussion, all session 2 presenters

1:00pm Lunch

Saturday, October 5
Session 3

1:45pm Welcomes and Introductions
Peter MacKeith, Dean, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
Mr. Steven Marshall, Director, USDA Forest Service, Wood Innovations Program

2:00pm Thomas Robinson, LEVER Architecture

2:40pm Jeremy Smith, Irving Smith Architects

3:20pm Coffee

3:30pm Kelly Harrison, HTS Structural Engineers

4:10pm Aaron Dorf, Snøhetta

4:50pm Panel Discussion, all session 3 presenters

5:30pm Reception and Exhibition Opening
“Time for Timber”
Ulrich Dangel, UT-Austin, Exhibition Curator

Sunday, October 6
Session 4

10:00am Welcomes and Introductions

10:15am Roundtable Seminar Discussion, moderated by Susan Jones 

11:45am Open Ends

12:00pm Symposium Concludes

Presenters

Mikkel Bøgh
Effekt

Mikkel Bøgh is the Chief Operating Officer of Effekt, an architectural collaborative based in Copenhagen, Denmark, operating in the fields of architecture, urbanism and research.  Effekt’s work is rooted in the humanistic Scandinavian design tradition and focuses on honest, intuitive and empathic design centered around the human scale, democratic values and a pragmatic approach to function and form in relation to physical and social context.

Bøgh

Ulrich Dangel
University of Texas-Austin

Ulirich Dangel received a Diploma in Architecture from Universität Stuttgart in Germany and a Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon. His professional career led him to London where he worked for internationally renowned architecture firms Foster and Partners as well as Grimshaw. His experience includes projects such as Frankfurt Airport, the McLaren Research and Development Centre, the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, and the Education Resource Centre at the Eden Project in Cornwall. He is a registered architect in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Texas, and maintains an Austin-based design practice with Associate Professor Tamie Glass.
Professor Dangel’s research focuses on the use of wood in construction, its influence on building culture and craft, and how it contributes to the advancement of sustainable practices at the scale of local and global economies. Due to his expertise in the field, he has established an ongoing dialogue with architects, engineers, foresters, material scientists, and professional organizations around the world. In his teaching, technology and its impact on architectural expression play a fundamental role in both the design studio setting as well as lecture and seminar courses.
Birkhäuser Basel published his books “Sustainable Architecture in Vorarlberg: Energy Concepts and Construction Systems“ and ”Turning Point in Timber Construction: A New Economy” in 2010 and 2017 respectively. Both books are available in English and German language editions.


Aaron Dorf
Snøhetta

Aaron Dorf is a Director and senior architect at Snøhetta, with over twelve years in the New York office overseeing projects including the National September 11th Museum Pavilion in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Expansion, Harvard HouseZero, Blaisdell Cultural Center Redevelopment in Honolulu and the Joslyn Art Museum Expansion in Omaha, among others. Aaron looks after Snøhetta’s North American Powerhouse work – a body of projects and partnerships that follow Norway’s strictest sustainability practices for ZEB’s (zero emission buildings) by promoting ultra-low energy use, zero or positive emissions and healthy materials. The first North American project by members of the Powerhouse team, HouseZero, is a renovated office space and headquarters for Harvard’s Center for Green Buildings and Cities – a tiny project with huge ambitions.

Aaron Dorf

Kelly Harrison
HTS Structural Engineers

Kelly has over thirteen years’ experience as a structural engineer and since joining Heyne Tillett Steel in 2008 has worked on schemes across all sectors and at all scales. Her experience ranges from small scale exceptionally detailed private houses to large scale commercial developments in the heart of London. In 2015 Kelly completed a new walkway within the Science Museum London which was opened by the Queen and won a Structural Award in 2016.

Kelly is a passionate advocate of sustainable construction and following a project which extended an existing RC frame with a new lightweight cross laminated timber (CLT) roof has proposed similar constructions to many clients. At 10 Lower James Street, she was involved in updating a 1930’s office building and creating a new mezzanine level with a CLT prefabricated double cranked roof. Kelly has also recently completed the Republic masterplan which involved the refurbishment of two ten storey buildings, integration of an exposed glulam structure into the atrium and lateral extensions to create more office space, again in glulam and CLT. Kelly has also worked on several educational projects and has recently completed an extension to Grade II listed buildings at Charterhouse, Surrey to provide a new Chemistry block in exposed CLT.

Kelly runs a research group, in collaboration with London City University, into engineered timber innovations as well as a Timber Focus Group for timber enthusiasts in the firm. Kelly sits on the Advisory Committee for the UK’s Timber Research and Development Association as well as editorial board for the New Steel Construction Magazine, and the British Constructional Steel Association’s monthly publication.

Kelly Harrison

Sebastian Irarrazaval
Sebastian Irarrazaval Arquitecto

Sebastian Irarrazaval is RIBA International Fellow and has been trained as an architect at the Catholic University of Chile and at the Architectural Association of London.   His work has been published in specialized magazines such as Casabella, Architectural Review, Casa Viva and A + U and recognized by Wallpaper as one of the 101 most interesting architecture studios in the world.  In 2016, the Public Library of Constitution received the highest honor in the Wood Design Awards Program organized by the Canadian Wood Council and the RIBA Award for International Excellence granted by the Royal Institute of British Architects.  He has exhibited his work at the UIA in Barcelona, ​​at Harvard University, in the exhibition “Contemporary Space in Chile” organized by the Union of Architects of Catalonia, Barcelona. 


Susan Jones
atelierjones llc/University of Washington


Susan Jones and atelierjones llc’s award-winning work is founded on research, teaching and community engagement to envision new systemic, cross-disciplinary sustainable strategies for buildings, including recent, groundbreaking work with Mass Timber. atelierjones recently completed four of the first Mass Timber structures built in the US – a single family house using Cross Laminated Timber, or CLT as structure and interior finish material, an adaptive reuse church, using CLT as a 40’ high, interior non-structural wall, as well as two schools. A book on the firm’s research and design with Mass Timber was published in the Fall of 2017.

The firm’s work has been recognized by numerous national, regional and local design awards, and been published nationally and internationally. Susan and her staff leverage their design talents, leading and collaborating with multiple arts and cultural non-profit organizations across the Pacific Northwest, including space.city, Architects without Borders, Suyama Space, Arcade, and multiple theaters and churches. Susan has taught at the University of Washington since 1991, been a visiting design critic at numerous national universities, and is an Affiliate Associate Professor of Architecture in the College of the Built Environments, University of Washington. She was elected to the AIA College of Fellows in 2010.


Anssi Lassila
OOPEAA

The Finnish architect Anssi Lassila lives and works in Seinäjoki and in Helsinki, Finland. He is the founder and principal partner of OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture. OOPEAA works on a large variety of different types of projects: churches, office buildings, housing, private houses, interior design, and renovations. The office has been honored with significant awards and nominations and has won several prizes in architecture competitions. OOPEAA has quickly gained a distinctive position among young Finnish architectural practices. Lassila’s architecture displays his interest in combining a sculptural form with traditional materials and building techniques, especially in wood.


Andrea Leers
Leers Weinzapfel Associates

Andrea Leers is an internationally recognized leader in urban and campus design, and building for higher education.  Leers Weinzapfel Associates pioneered the first large scale academic Mass Timber building in the United States at UMass Amherst Design Building. Currently, and is currently leading the nation’s first large-scale mass timber residence hall at University of Arkansas. Andrea’s work has earned her the recognition of the Boston Society of Architects Award of Honor. She is currently Commissioner for the Mayor’s Boston Civic Design Commission, and is a member of the University of Washington Architectural Commission. She serves on the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service National Register of Peer Professionals.


Tanya Luthi
Entuitive

Tanya Luthi is a Vice President at Entuitive with over 13 years of experience in the structural engineering industry.  She discovered a love for mass timber design, fueled by her work on the Mountain Equipment Co-op head office building, one of the largest contemporary mass timber buildings in Canada. Based on this experience, she co-authored the US and Canadian Nail-Laminated Timber Design and Construction Guides, and she began speaking widely on the topic of mass timber to both students and industry professionals.  Upon returning to New York in 2016 and became involved in the development of building codes, serving as an active member of the NYC structural code committee and advocating for the wider adoption of mass timber. She also served on the structural work group of the ICC Ad-Hoc Committee on Tall Wood Buildings, which successfully introduced increased height limits on mass timber buildings to the 2021 International Building Code.


Alan Organschi
Gray Organschi Architecture

Alan Organschi is design principal and partner at Gray Organschi Architecture in New Haven, a firm recognized nationally for its residential, institutional, and infrastructural design. Organschi and his partner, Elizabeth Gray, were honored in 2012 by the American Academy of Arts and Letters with an Arts and Letters Award in Architecture and by the American Institute for Architecture with a National Award in Housing for their design of the Fairfield Jesuit Center. In addition to writing and lecturing on construction technology in design, Organschi is a member of the steering committee of the Cities and Climate Change Network, an international consortium of scientists, policy-makers, and design practitioners engaged in interdisciplinary research and the implementation of global projects in carbon mitigation and climate adaptation. His ongoing research explores the use of new wood technologies in mid-rise, high-density housing and infrastructure.

Organschi

John Patkau
Patkau Architects

John Patkau founded Patkau Architects with Patricia in 1978. He is licensed in a number of jurisdictions in both Canada and the United States. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Manitoba. He is a Fellow of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects, a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, a recipient of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada’s Gold Medal, and a Member of the Order of Canada.

Patkau

Thomas Robinson
LEVER Architecture

Thomas Robinson is the Founder and Principal of LEVER Architecture in Portland, Oregon. His practice is dedicated to the creation of buildings and spaces that elevate human experience as well as pioneering the use of cross-laminated timber (or CLT) in the United States.  LEVER Architecture has been recognized with numerous awards including being named to Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard and the Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices. The firm’s work has been published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Surface and Dwell, and was recently featured in “Timber City,” an exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.  Prior to establishing the firm, Thomas led cultural and institutional projects for Allied Works and Herzog & de Meuron.

Robinson

Jeremy Smith
Irving Smith Architects

Jeremy Smith is the Design Director at Irving Smith Architects in New Zealand, and has led a range of ISA’s design innovations and demonstrates an ongoing commitment to innovative, sustainable and research based design with a particular focus on timber, backed up by national and international award and publication recognition, ongoing research and teaching.  Irving Smith’s work has been internationally recognized, including the World Villa of the Year at the 2017 World Architecture Festival in Berlin 2017, being Highly Commended in Singapore 2015, and a finalist in Barcelona 2011, Singapore 2013,2014,2015, Berlin 2017 and Amsterdam 2019.

Smith

Natalie Telewiak
Michael Green Architecture

Natalie Telewiak is a Principal at Michael Green Architecture (MGA), an award-winning, mid-sized architecture firm known worldwide for creating engaging, sustainable and innovative projects.

With an education in both architecture and engineering, Natalie brings an approach rooted in material logic. Combined with an emphasis on cross team collaboration, Natalie is driven toward elegant solutions that marry structure, systems, manufacturing and architecture.  Career highlights include work on the Governor General Award-winning, CLT construction, Ronald MacDonald House in Vancouver and a mass timber, multi-activity centre in the City of Gallivare, Sweden.

Telewiak

Andrew Waugh
Waugh Thistleton Architects

Andrew is a founding director of Waugh Thistleton Architects, a world leading architecture practice dedicated to designing buildings and places of the highest architectural quality that acknowledge their impact on the environment.

Fusing sustainability and design Andrew is a passionate advocate of low carbon construction and encourages clients to look at the beauty and benefits of innovative technologies. He has led the practice on award winning schemes from cinemas to synagogues; social housing to offices and was responsible for the design and delivery of Murray Grove, the project which spearheaded the international movement in tall timber construction and Bushey Cemetery which was shortlisted for the prestigious Stirling Prize in 2018.

Andrew continues to research from within the practice. He lectures across the world with a focus on sustainability, timber construction and the future of architecture. Andrew is a visiting Professor Architecture at The University of Sheffield.

Waugh