

Cross Laminated Timber
I was recently introduced to a mass timber construction material called Cross Laminated Timber or CLT. This system basically takes dimensional lumber (2x4, 2x6, 2x12, etc), and glues them together, similar to how a glulam beam is made of stacked boards that are glued and laminated together. CLT is kind of like a horizontal glulam beam, but the primary feature that makes it interesting is that each layer of dimensional lumber is staggered and rotated perpendicular to the lay


Honeycomb Chapel
Honeycomb Chapel takes a new approach to sustainability by combining the tectonic/structural system with the lighting system. Composed of geodesic modules, this structure creates an environment which accommodates two distinctly different zones. By using smaller modules and increasing their depth, the natural daylight is funneled toward the center of the room and away from the perimeter. Standing in the center of the room, one can see through every wall, rendering the room


Balsa Wood Bridge Structural Test
For structures class we were assigned to design, build and test a balsa wood truss bridge. I chose to use a slightly modified Warren truss as the bridge portion. I reinforced the horizontal bridge with 4 vertical towers based on the Warren truss design which served to support a small metal cable used to reinforce the compression loads with tensile strength. In the end, the main horizontal truss cords snapped causing the truss to twist, breaking all critical joints and fall