What is the Tall Wood Structures Micro-Certificate?
This micro-certificate covers specialized technical topics on mass timber products and building systems with a focus on the practical design of tall wood structures, utilizing current building standards and innovative design methods. It emphasizes the unique properties of wood as a construction material and demonstrates how designers can apply these properties to design safe and reliable tall wood structures in an efficient way.
This micro-certificate will help design professionals develop skills and competencies for an applied understanding of both advantages and challenges of wood in tall wood structures. The micro-certificate consists of four courses that cover different aspects of tall wood design and modelling.
Why choose the Tall Wood Structures Micro-Certificate?
Engineered wood products such as glulam, cross-laminated timber, dowel-laminated timber, and laminated veneer lumber have made tall mass timber buildings a new trend in Canada and globally. As of April 2023, there are 105 mid-rise and high-rise mass timber buildings in Canada. The construction of mass timber buildings is also increasing on a global scale. Building codes are changing to allow for the construction of taller wood structures, including the recent update of the BC building code allowing for the construction of up to 12-storey timber buildings. These changes will increase the demand for tall wood buildings in the construction market.
What will you learn?
- Understand the strengths and limitations of mass timber as a construction material;
- Explore various high-capacity timber connection options and identify typical structural configurations for tall wood buildings;
- Learn gravity load design and explore various mass timber floor design options;
- Learn lateral load design with mass timber shear walls and braced frames, etc.;
- Understand ductile design, and capacity design and explore low-damage technologies for improved seismic resilience of mass timber buildings; and
- Explore analytical and numerical tools for structural analysis and learn how to select appropriate modeling/analytical tools for practical design.
Who should take this program?
Engineers, architects, and other interested design professionals who have acquired basic knowledge of structural design and want to learn cutting-edge engineering knowledge for mass timber and tall wood structures.