Conference Schedule: Presenters & Their Talks
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The following schedule is subject to change. Stay tuned here for updates as the Conference approaches.
Continuing Education Units for architects and engineers are available for many of the seminars. Contact our office for a specific listing, or you may pick it up at the Conference.
Thursday, April 15
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM | Workshop #1: Compound Roof Practicum
Workshop #2: Job Costing Start to Finish with QuickBooks Pro
Workshop #3: Tuning the Japanese Plane
Workshop #4: Building Sustainability Into Business |
Thursday, April 15
4:00 PM | Main Conference Registration Open |
Friday, April 16
7:30-9:00 AM | Breakfast
Registration opens at 7:30 AM |
| Basic Timber Framing Track
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Gordon Macdonald, Mill Bay, British Columbia (formerly Operations Manager at Carpenter Oak and Woodland, Scotland)
Topic: Site Safety, Including Fall Protection.
Leon Buckwalter (TFG Director), Historic Restoration and Renovation Institute, Hinsdale, NY
Topic: Sharpening Saws and Edge Tools.
Rudy Christian (TFG President), Christian and Son Timber Framing, Burbank, OH,
Topic: Square Rule Layout (double session) |
| Natural Building Track
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Stephen Kanipe, Chief Building Official, City of Aspen.
Topic: Permit By The Book - Taking Alternatives to City Hall: A look at the history of building regulation and recognizing the need to test, evaluate and accept "traditional materials and techniques." Practical steps in establishing criteria to having your preferred methods approved for use in your project. Examples of permitted commercial and residential construction using innovative materials and techniques.
Paula Baker-Laporte, Econest Building Company, Tesuque, NM
Topic: Building for Health Naturally. There's nothing complicated about building healthier homes. However building for health has not, until recently, been a building industry concern and for the most part architects and builders remain uninformed. Paula will discuss the principles of "bau-biologie," an approach to design and building that incorporates human health and planetary ecology. She will show examples of these principles as applied to Econests, the timber frame/straw-clay homes that she and husband Robert Laporte design and build.
Kari Bremer, Fountain of Earth Design and Construction, Bayfield, CO
Topic: Ancient Wisdom for the 21st Century. Timber Frames with natural wall enclosures demonstrate an ancient sustainable solution to many modern environmental debates. This presentation is a reflection on the art of blending locally horse logged timber, mud, fiber and stone to create houses for the 21st century and beyond. The pros and cons of choosing natural will be addressed with slides of both traditional and modern natural homes. Construction process details and the finished results will also stir discussion and questions. Several new projects in Southwest Colorado will demonstrate the inherently wise use of local and natural materials to create sophisticated and durable passive solar sanctuaries that address the concerns of humanity.
Todd Swanson, Bio-Hab, Hesperus, CO
Topic: Exterior and Interior Plastering with Lime and Clay for the Building Professional: Open your eyes and imaginations to the use of clay and lime finishes, for a more natural and eco-sensitive approach that is unique and beautiful.
This presentation, from the perspective of the contractor and builder, will include topics such as: an introduction to clay and lime; why choose these materials; application techniques and equipment; costs; and comparisons to other finishes.
Todd and Tim have evolved the understanding of these age-old materials and want to help elevate clay and lime as viable finishes for both exterior and interior use.
Todd Swanson of Bio-hab Inc., has more than 30 years of construction experience and is the president of the Southwest Natural Builders' Guild in Colorado. Tim White of Mountain Stream Builders, LLC, is a professional natural plaster.
Mission Statement for the Southwest Natural Builders' Guild: "In the spirit of camaraderie, the mission of the Southwest Natural Builders' Guild is to encourage the awareness, acceptance, and availability of healthy, ecological and sustainable building for the benefit of all."
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| Other presenters |
Tom Keohane, Historical Architect for the National Park Service, Denver
Topic: Documenting Historic Structures.
Ron Anthony, wood scientist, Anthony and Associates, Ft. Collins, CO
Topic: Hidden Details of Timber Structures: He will show us how to use digital radioscopy to perform non-destructive testing and resistance drilling to identify decay or other factors affecting joint integrity. Together these techniques can help us investigate the hidden details of timber structures.
Chris Koziol, Director, Architectural Preservation Institute, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO, along with Merrill Kaufmann, Ph.D., Research Plant Physiologist at the USDA-Forest Service Rocky Mt. Research Station (Ft. Collins) and Peter Haney of Rocky Mt. Workshops (Ft. Collins)
Topic: Timber Framing and Place: A missing chapter in the history of wood construction in the Rockies and an emerging chapter in forest health, small diameter wood, sustainable local economies, and green building.
Coloradan Ed Shure and New Englander Ed Levin
Topic: ED2 - Fruit of a Transcontinental Partnership: They'll examine a decade of collaborative design, attempting a definitive answer to the question: "Are two Eds better than one?"
Mike and Sandy Koness Centennial Timber Frames, Kalispell, MT
Topic: From Print to Pegs: Running a Small Timber Frame Business: Learn how three newcomers to the craft grew their company into a prosperous enterprise. Follow a job from start to finish, covering marketing, bids, communication, meetings, execution of the job and dealing with employees.
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Friday, April 16 |
Membership Meeting, Timber Frame Business Council
Trade Show Reception
Slide Show (a chance to show your work)
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Saturday, April 17
7:30-9:00 AM | Breakfast
Registration opens at 7:30 AM
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Basic Timber Framing Track |
David Burnett, Engineer, Western Engineering & Research Corp., Erie, CO
Topic: Behavior of Wood
Curtis Milton (TFG Director), Monolithic Building Services, Jackson, NH
Topic: Why Braces Matter
Dick Schmidt (TFG Director), Dept. of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Topic: Basic Beam Sizing
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Natural Building Track: |
Kari Foster, Annette Stelmack, Debbie Hindman, Associates III, Denver, CO
Topic: Greening Interior Spaces: A practical how-to approach to researching
sustainable products and alternatives, and incorporating green practices and
applications into your projects. Guidelines will be presented for working
closely with the client, architect, contractor and subcontractors.
Non-toxic and appropriate maintenance programs in order to maintain a
healthy and sustaining living environment will also be addressed.
Robert Laporte, Econest Building Company, Tesuque, NM
Topic: Straw/Clay Outsulation System: In 1989 Robert was inspired by a lecture on Vedic architecture where he heard the words "In nature everything nourishes everything." Robert set out to find a wall system to wrap his timber frames that carried the same crafted beauty, soulfulness and ecological soundness as the timber frames themselves. Robert's presentation will describe the straw/clay "outsulation" system that he developed from techniques he learned in Germany and has been using and evolving since 1990.
Forum: Join all the experts from the Natural Building Track for a Forum on Saturday afternoon when they will answer your questions on topics from sustainability to green building.
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Other presenters |
Chris Koehn, Top Ridge Timber Frame Homes, Cascade, WI
Topic: Summary of his three weeks as a student at the Gewerbe-Akademie in Rottweil, Germany: where he learned first-hand how Zimmermann there learn their trade
Building scientist Steve Andrews
Topic: The Big Energy Picture, as it relates to SIPS and why we need to care more and faster about the way we build.
Al Wallace, Eagle Ridge Engineering, Englewood, CO
Topic: Rehabilitating Traditional Western Log Structures
Andrea Arduine, a physical therapist to star athletes and timber framers from Boulder
Topic: Movement on the Job.
Guild President Rudy Christian
Topic: Malabar Farm (Ohio) Working Barn project.
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Saturday (cont'd) |
First-ever Hundegger Users Group Meeting
TFG Membership Meeting (a stand-alone event with no other sessions scheduled; you're invited to air your gripes and concerns about TFG affairs
Benefit Auction.
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Sunday, April 18
| Panel of Experts:
Topic: Real Time Problem Solving, a chance to bring those nagging technical questions to panel of experts and see how many different solutions they can come up with!
Andrea Arduine will continue her Movement on the Job session
Tim Chauvin, Red Suspenders Timber Frames, Nacogdoches, TX
Topic: Seminar on Crane Use and Preparing for a Safe Raising and Rigging.
Commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, we will present an update on the status of the Annihilated Heritage-Zabludow Project and synagogue reconstruction in Poland, led by Al Wallace and friends.
In partnership with the International Log Builders Association, we are bringing Petr Ruzicka from the Czech Republic. He is a consummate craftsman, an articulate historian, and preeminent among experts in medieval carpentry. He will demonstrate hewing and cutting joinery with only an axe (fast!), and will also show us some remarkable projects from his homeland, from arbors to medieval bridge derricks.
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Closing Remarks
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