2010 Green Building Expo, Virtual Conference

This was the first live virtual online conference I have ever attended. It was divided into four venues which you could navigate through. The first venue was the Main Hall. Here is where you viewed personal profiles of attendees and obtained announcements; accessed your personal briefcase where you could store white papers, case studies, and personal files.

The second venue was the Exhibition Hall where you could explore exhibitor booths and gather information about the company, it’s products and view presentations. As you entered the booth an audio/video greeted you, and you could also speak live via chat or email with a booth representative, and even chat with other attendees visiting the same booth. There was an information kiosk where you could sign up for newsletters, view demo videos, gather contact information, obtain website links and even sign up for prize giveaways like i-pods.

The third venue, and most interesting to me was the Conference Hall. This provided both live and on demand webcast seminars. You could also download podcasts for later listening. The presentations were audio video webcasts synchronized with Power Point slides. These were also interactive presentations where you could submit questions to the presenters and received responses.

The last area was The Resource Center which has a press room, announcement board, the agenda to view, and even had a networking lounge where you could communicate online with other attendees. Overall I thought this approach to attending conferences was fantastic. It saved time and money traveling, allowing me the convenience of attending from my home with no environmental impact. I especially enjoyed the keynote “Achieving Success in Green Building” presented by motivational speaker and author Jack Canfield. Another seminar of interest was “A New Technology for Building Green Affordably” presented by Global Building Systems Inc. Can’t wait to attend the next virtual conference event.

Asheville Home Show

Asheville, NC Mar 19 -21, 2009

Southeast Wood Solutions Fair

Charlotte, NC Feb 2010 ~ S.E. Wood Solution Fair

The Wood Solutions Fair in Charlotte, NC featured ground breaking wood projects from around the globe including the world’s tallest wooden building in England. If you are an architect, an engineer or a builder, this was a great event. It offered seminars related to design with wood ranging from inspirational architecture to innovative use of wood, and from sustainable forestry to Green sustainable design.

I really enjoyed the seminar on inspirational architecture by Alison Brooks of Alison Brooks Architects Ltd. (UK) which discussed her projects that exploit the potential of wood. She showed some very interesting mixed use residential projects incorporating urban agriculture, sky gardens and roof terraces. And oyster fisherman cottages utilizing unique organic folded geometry.

Another seminar which was thoroughly entertaining by another UK architect was given by Andrew Waugh of Waugh, Thistleton Architects who designed the worlds tallest modern mixed use wood building. The entire structure was built using KLM (cross-laminated timber panels) where the walls are essentially acting as beams which offers entirely new possibilities with regards to load transfer. The project was constructed by framers from Austria. http://www.klh.at

Southeast Wood Design awards were also presented exemplifying outstanding use of wood. I thought the Jury’s Choice Award for the Camp Twin Lakes Treehouse in Georgia by Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Inc. Architects, a treehouse that connects campers with nature, was of particular interest.

Made in Canada, Built in the USA

Asheville, NC Feb 17, 2009

Timberpeg Brand Open Homes

Oct 18 & 25, 2009

Mountain Living Log & Timber Show

Asheville, NC Oct 9-11, 2000

AIA South Atlantic Regional Conference

Greenville, SC Oct 1, 2009
This is a regional conference that meets every three years bringing together architects from NC, SC and GA. This year the conference was in Greenville, SC and it offered educational seminars, tours and an expo hall with the latest materials and products. The seminar topics ranged from Integrated Projects Achieving High Performance Buildings to Alternative Housing Models from Copenhagen, Denmark and the Netherlands.

One of my favorite seminars was titled “Build Like a Farmer” given by Chad Everheart, Architect, AIA. The presentation focused on a simpler, more practical approach to cultivating designs for modest living based on the resourcefulness of building like a farmer. Farmers construct modest buildings that are sensible, functional and simple. We can learn a lot from the minimalism of agricultural buildings and farmsteads which incorporate vernacular forms and indigenous materials. Farmers use a commonsense approach to design which is sustainable and environmentally conscious while being regionally appropriate and in context with its local community, producing meaningful and responsible architecture.

Another excellent seminar was “Lake/Flato on Sustainable Design Approach” presented by Ted Flato, Architect, FAIA. This approach focused on solutions of vernacular architecture incorporating sustainable strategies for different building types to achieve energy conservation and protect natural resources.

One of the highlights at this conference for me was the tour of the BMW Manufacturing Plant near Greenville, SC which is BMW’s first full manufacturing facility outside of Germany. This plant, which produces the BMW-X5 and X6 hybrid, is four million square feet, employs 5,000 people and produces 600 vehicles per day. This particular plant is the most sustainable automotive manufacturing facility in the world. They recycle 100% of their manufacturing scrap, and the building is powered by reclaimed methane gas which produces 60% of its energy needs. The assembly process, using a careful intricate flow of sequenced parts and timed processes, was amazing to watch. As an architect in a field that uses a design process, I found it fascinating to watch the automated use of hundreds of robots performing welding as they manipulated the vehicle body at high speeds and efficiencies. I highly recommend this tour. (Call 1-888-TOUR-BMW).

Downtown Greenville was a great place to hold the conference. I especially enjoyed going to the Riverplace Development which is an oasis in the heart of Greenville’s historic west end, and Falls Park on the Reedy River with its famous suspension footbridge and scenic overlooks. As the sun set, conferees were treated to Dining by Design including restaurants such as High Cotton which features game and fresh fish, Oysters on the West Side featuring a taste of the low-country, and The Lazy Goat with flavors of the Mediterranean.