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Start the course nowWood Scores A+ in School Construction
The grades have been posted: Schools are finding that wood ranks at the top of the class when it comes to cost-effectiveness, with one Arkansas school district saving as much as $2.7 million by changing from structural steel to wood-frame construction. The educational community is taking note, not only of wood's material cost advantages, but its other attributes as well, such as speed of construction, design versatility and the ability to meet green building goals – while creating positive learning environments and meeting all code and safety requirements. "We often use wood in school designs – it's affordable, strong and durable," says Wendy Rogers, AIA, LEED AP, principal at LPA, Inc. in Sacramento, California. "Because it can function as a structural member and finished product, wood is a popular choice in school design." Gordon Whirry, of Gordon Whirry Architecture in Great Falls, Montana, also finds wood to be a good fit in an educational setting. "Many schools, particularly in higher education, are moving toward a more environmentally responsible approach to design and construction. Wood can complement this effort."
Wood Saves Money
When specifying wood in schools, architects say cost-effectiveness is a major reason – and wood helps the bottom line in several ways. In addition to lower material costs, wood building systems typically cost less to install than other materials, while meeting all of the same safety and performance requirements. Whether comprised of traditional wood framing, panelized products, or prefabricated assemblies, wood construction is fast, expediting project completion. "Schools are always working toward a fixed start date, and wood is a good choice when the construction schedule is compressed," says Scott Lockyear, senior technical director, school construction, at WoodWorks, an initiative of the Wood Products Council established to provide free project support and other resources related to the use of wood in non-residential and multi-family wood buildings. "There's no need to wait for shop drawings or steel fabrication. Deliveries and frame assembly tend to move rapidly, and most communities have a large pool of skilled tradespeople with wood framing experience, which minimizes construction delays and keeps labor costs competitive."
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Polytechnic School, Pasadena, California Photo by David Lena; Courtesy of HMC Architects |
LPA's Rogers notes that speed of construction was important in the firm's work for the cash-strapped Lake Tahoe Unified School District in building the South Tahoe High School. Rogers says both time and money were saved by using wood-frame construction. "Specifically, we benefitted from rapid erection and minimized labor required for assembling wall-to-roof connections."
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At El Dorado High School in Arkansas, CADM Architecture saved $2.7 million by switching from the original design to wood framing. Photos courtesy of W.I. Bell (under construction); Dennis Ivy |
Also from a cost-saving perspective, wood's relative light weight reduces the need for foundation capacity and associated costs. "Wood-frame walls can be used as load-bearing walls, eliminating the need for additional beams," says Lockyear, who also reports growing interest from architects in wood roofs. "Utilizing a sloped wooden roof system which can house mechanical systems in a conditioned space can also reduce HVAC requirements as compared to flat roof systems with mechanical units exposed on the roof. In terms of aesthetics, cost and design flexibility, the use of wood in school construction offers significant value."
| Calculating Costs |
| A recently launched cost calculator shows that, in November 2011, the shell of an average one-story, 45,000-square-foot wood school in the U.S. costs 16 percent less to construct than the shell of a non-wood school. The calculator features information on a range of building types based on cost data that is updated quarterly.1 |
| Source: woodworks.org |
In Arkansas, wood framing proved the most cost-effective structural system for the El Dorado High School. "Originally, the project was designed in steel and masonry, which is common for a building of this size," says J. Richard Brown, P.E., principal engineer with Engineering Consultants, Inc. in Little Rock. "But the budget was too high. So our response was to look at other framing types. That's where we found considerable savings." During the early pre-construction stages, structural steel, pre-cast concrete and wood were evaluated against steel framing. "Ultimately we made the decision to maximize the use of wood framing throughout the project. By just changing the framing, we were able to save about $2.7 million."
School Safety
Regardless of whether they're built in wood, steel or concrete, schools must be safe. Protection from fire, seismic and wind events are a concern in schools around the country.
Fire Protection. While no building is completely fireproof, construction materials and systems can make a building fire safe. Fire-resistive construction allows time to discover a fire, suppress it before it spreads and evacuate if necessary. Ordinary wood-frame construction with plywood or oriented strand board (OSB) sheathing provides ample fire safety and easily meets requirements of the International Building Code (IBC). For larger wood frame schools, protected construction, heavy timber construction, and fire-retardant-treated construction on exterior walls may be required. Per IBC 903.2.3, sprinklers are required in areas larger than 12,000 square feet in Occupancy Group E building types. Most schools fall into this category. In addition, local building code amendments typically require sprinkler systems and other fire control measures in school construction, regardless of size or material used.
Another advantage of wood, and particularly heavy timber, is its unique charring properties. When exposed to fire, surface char insulates the member so it can continue to support its load, increasing the amount of time before the member fails.
"At South Tahoe High School, there were only a few areas that required additional fire protection and they were met using fire-treated dimensional wood," says Rogers. "Where portions of a glue-laminated (glulam) member needed to be protected, the member itself met the criteria of heavy timber."
Seismic Performance. In some parts of the country, seismic safety is particularly important. In California, for example, one of the most highly regulated states in the U.S. in terms of seismic requirements, wood-frame schools are common. "Wood has historically performed well during an earthquake," says Lockyear. "Wood is lightweight relative to other construction materials, and light weight correlates directly to lower seismic forces and better performance during seismic events." In addition, wood-frame structures, which have numerous nailed joints, are inherently more ductile than those with rigid connections, making them more flexible and allowing them to dissipate energy when subjected to the sudden loads of an earthquake. The fact that wood structures have numerous load paths also helps to avoid collapse should some connections fail.
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Faced with a high floor-to-floor dimension at the Polytechnic School in California, designers needed to be creative in order to get the required shear values and still maintain the large windows they desired. Photo by David Lena; Courtesy of HMC Architects |
Performance in High Winds. Wood has a number of inherent characteristics that make it ideal for schools in areas prone to high wind. When designing a wood-frame building to resist high winds and other lateral loads, design engineers use sheathing products such as wood structural panels, structural fiberboard, particleboard and board sheathing to create diaphragms and shear walls that transfer the loads into the foundation. When structural wood panels such as plywood and OSB are properly attached to lumber framing members, they form some of the most solid and stable roof, floor, and wall systems available. These materials are also used to form the diaphragms and shear walls necessary to resist high wind loads. Alternatively, designers can use rigid frame construction to transfer the lateral loads. Wood is able to resist higher stresses when the load is applied for a short time, a feature that enhances its performance in high wind events, which are typically of short duration. ?
In designing a K-12 school as a podium structure with two stories of wood-frame construction over a concrete parking garage, Kyle Peterson, LEED AP BD+C of HMC Architects in Los Angeles, took an ingenious approach to meeting California's seismic criteria. "We have a fairly high floor-to-floor dimension, thus the design team needed to be creative in order to get the required shear values and maintain the large window openings that were desired," he says. As part of the project, two relocated historic wood-frame buildings were also upgraded to meet shear and seismic requirements. "Since there were no requirements for shear in the early 20th century, there was very little available space to add shear walls. The use of prefabricated shear panels was the best solution in order to maintain the beautiful, large window openings and provide the required shear values. The buildings were gutted, and the interior framing was upgraded to achieve all these requirements."
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Wood has a strong presence at the South Tahoe High School in California. It was used for the school's main structural system as well as exposed elements. Photo by Costea Photography; Courtesy of LPA Inc. |
| School Construction and the IBC |
Wood is approved by the International Building Code (IBC) for use in school construction. - Type V is the most common type of wood construction, and is allowed for school design. Type V is typically a cost-effective type of construction, particularly when load-bearing walls are wood. The IBC allows use of untreated wood throughout a Type V structure. Under the IBC, one-story Type V schools can be up to 87,875 square feet and two-story schools may be as large as 138,750 square feet. If additional square footage is required, two-hour rated fire walls can be used. - Type IV, also known as heavy timber construction, allows use of solid or laminated wood members such as glulam, wood decking and structural sheathing when there are no concealed spaces. Fire-retardant-treated (FRT) wood can be used to frame exterior walls. - Type III construction allows wood roof and floor systems as well as interior wood-frame walls. FRT wood is required to frame exterior wood-frame walls. - Building Types I and II allow the use of heavy timber construction in roof construction and for secondary members. FRT wood can also be used in certain applications. Designing Schools with Wood from APA–The Engineered Wood Association details the approved use of wood in school construction by IBC building type.2 |
Human Health and Well-being
Green building objectives are broader than just environmental effects and have come to embrace human health and well-being issues, which involve both physical health and the psychological aspects of human performance – an area especially relevant to schools. The stress-reducing effects of nature are well documented, and intuition tells us that a connection to nature improves our sense of well-being while indoors. In fact, studies surrounding biophilia, the innate attraction that humans have to living organisms and life-like processes, support the use of wood and natural building products in a learning environment. Many building designers cite the warm and natural attributes of wood as a reason for its use, and are finding that users respond well to a visual or tactile connection with exposed wood products. "Wood is immensely popular and inviting, making it a perfect material to be used in learning environments," says LPA's Rogers.
A recent study at the University of British Columbia and FPInnovations established a link between wood and human health. In the study, the presence of visual wood surfaces in a room lowered activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The SNS is responsible for physiological stress responses in humans such as increased blood pressure and heart rate while inhibiting the parasympathetic system responsible for digestion, recovery and repair functions in the body. The study immersed 119 university students in one of four different office environments, some with wood surfaces and others without. Stress as measured by SNS activation was lower in the wood rooms in all periods of the study. The study concluded that wood is one way to create a healthier built environment. Study author David Fell says that while research on wood and schools is underway in British Columbia, the results of the office study apply to any interior environment. "The stress-reducing effects we found for wood in office environments are in theory transferable to any building type as these are innate reactions to natural materials. By extension, we would expect the application of wood in schools to contribute to lower stress activation in students and teachers," says Fell. "Any built environment activates our sympathetic nervous system to some degree. From a biological/evolutionary perspective we are adapted to functioning in nature. By adding natural elements back into the built environment these stress reactions can be reduced."
A Smart Environmental Choice
Wood is the only major building material that grows naturally and is renewable – a fact that is increasingly recognized by government and business. In March 2011, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture's strategy to promote the use of wood as a green building material. "Wood has a vital role to play," he said, noting that U.S. Forest Service studies show that wood compares favorably to competing materials. This is particularly relevant to the education sector, which a 2007 study by McGraw-Hill showed to be the fastest growing market for green building. The report also noted "an increasingly widespread adoption of policies that require public buildings to have green characteristics."
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Thanks to the use of structural insulated panels (SIPs), Jacob E. Manch Elementary School in Nevada was declared the most energy-efficient elementary school per square foot among the hundreds of elementary school buildings in the school district. Photo courtesy of SSA Architecture |
"Sustainability was extremely important to LPA and the Lake Tahoe Unified School District," says Rogers. "The fact that wood is a renewable material with proven durability reinforced our choice to use it as the primary structural system for the high school." Robert Sotolongo, AIA, LEED AP of DTW Architects & Planners, Ltd. in Durham, North Carolina, agrees, adding that sustainability was a consideration in designing the K-8 Duke School in North Carolina. "Southern Yellow Pine was the primary wood used in the structure and decking. The wood is an abundant natural resource in the southeast, making it a sustainable, renewable and regional choice," says Sotolongo, "It was very important for the Duke School community to incorporate sustainable design features in their new campus and wood was a key element of the sustainable design."
Energy Efficiency
Wood-frame buildings can be easily designed to meet or exceed even the most demanding energy-efficiency requirements and, depending on the structure, may result in operational savings for the school district over time. For example, because steel is less resistant to heat flow than wood, steel studs create a bridge for heat transfer through the building envelope. As a result, steel-frame buildings require more insulation to achieve the same thermal performance that wood buildings provide, and even then may cost more to heat and cool. If metal is not thermally isolated, the resulting thermal bridges can also become prime locations for moisture condensation. "The wood studs just do not transfer heat and cold the way metal studs do and consequently help the energy efficiency of the exterior envelope," says Sotolongo.
According to a study by Keith Kothmann, CPE, Steel v. Wood, a Cost Analysis of Superstructures, exterior wall systems also offer thermal benefits when using wood studs instead of metal. Depending on wall height, a metal drywall system can accelerate thermal conductance for 12 to 15 percent of the wall surface, regardless of the amount or thickness of insulation in the wall. "The wood industry is continually investing in research and development to increase energy efficiency," says Lockyear. "Some of the initiatives include building systems that offer greater air tightness, less conductivity and more thermal mass where appropriate – including prefabricated systems that can contribute to the low energy requirements of Passive House and Net-Zero design."
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Wood played a key role in the Blackfeet Community College Math/Science Building, the first tribal building in the U.S. and the first educational building in Montana to be awarded LEED Platinum. The primary roof structure consists of glulam joists on glulam beams that support a 1-1/8-inch OSB roof deck. Photo courtesy of Gordon Whirry Architecture |
Carbon Footprint
From a carbon footprint perspective, the use of wood is beneficial because wood continues to store carbon absorbed by the tree during its growing cycle. In the case of buildings, this carbon is kept out of the atmosphere for the lifetime of the structure – or longer if the wood is reclaimed and used elsewhere.
Because manufacturing wood into products requires far less energy than other materials, another aspect of wood's carbon advantage is avoided greenhouse gas emissions. For example, constructing a wall using kiln-dried wood studs, OSB sheathing, and vinyl siding instead of concrete with an exterior stucco coating, results in 15 pounds of avoided CO2 emissions for every square foot of wall area. Likewise, using engineered wood I-joists with an OSB sub-floor rather than steel joists and OSB sub-flooring results in 22 pounds of avoided emissions for every square foot of floor area.3
| Calculating a Building's Carbon Storage |
| A new online tool can estimate the amount of carbon stored in a building's wood products and the greenhouse gas emissions avoided by not using steel or concrete. If wood product information is known (such as the volume of lumber, panels, engineered wood products, decking, siding and roofing), the calculator will provide a detailed estimate related to that specific building. The more detailed the information, the better the results. If product information is unknown, users can select from a list of common building types and receive an estimate based on typical wood use.4 |
| Source: woodworks.org |
Adding to wood's environmental credentials, life cycle assessment (LCA) studies consistently show that wood outperforms other materials in terms of embodied energy, air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.5 LCA is an internationally recognized method of evaluating the environmental impacts of materials over their entire life cycle, from extraction or harvest of raw materials through manufacturing, transportation, installation, use, maintenance and disposal or recycling. It is increasingly being integrated into green building rating systems as a way to understand the true impacts of alternate building designs.
"Although a building's operational energy use is the first thing most people think of in the context of its carbon footprint, it's really just one element," says Dwight Yochim, national director of WoodWorks. "The choice of building materials has a significant impact. Our hope is that, with our carbon calculator, we're giving design and building professionals another tool that supports the objective of low or Net-Zero energy buildings."
Decades of Durability
With hundreds of students under one roof, schools must be designed to withstand a high level of activity. Painted masonry is a durable choice, especially for corridors, but the look is often cold and institutional. A school's durability needs should be balanced with good design.
Wood framing is a versatile system and allows for a variety of affordable options in protecting and treating surfaces. Bruce Westerman, who was on the school board responsible for building the new Fountain Lake Middle School in Arkansas, says the only legitimate hurdle they ran into regarding durability using wood was for interior corridors. "We worried about kids knocking holes in the gypsum wallboard," he explains. "We easily overcame that by installing OSB over the wood studs and then covering it with impact-resistant gypsum to provide protection."
Longevity of materials is a prime consideration. While numbers vary around the country, elementary schools typically have an expected lifespan of 50 or more years – though wood framing can help extend that number. HMC's Peterson witnessed wood's staying power in designing a new facility at a K-12 California school. "The existing historic wood-framed buildings on campus were testament to the durability of wood," he says. "These buildings were built in 1906, have survived numerous large earthquakes, and remain in great condition both structurally and aesthetically. We have no doubt that in 100 years the new wood-framed buildings will still be standing right alongside their predecessors."
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This chart shows the carbon benefits of the new 320,500-square-foot El Dorado High School in Arkansas, which features more than 150,000 cubic feet of lumber, panels and engineered wood products.6 Chart courtesy of WoodWorks |
At the same time, while durability is crucial to the design of any building, designers should be aware that many buildings are demolished before the end of their useful service lives. A survey of buildings torn down between 2000 and 2003 in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area demonstrated that buildings in North America often fail to make the 50-year mark, regardless of material, because of changing needs and increasing land values as opposed to performance issues.7 Overall, wood buildings in the study had the longest life spans, showing that wood structural systems are fully capable of meeting a building's longevity expectations. However, when you consider the embodied energy in demolished buildings and the implications of material disposal, the fact that wood is adaptable – either through renovation or deconstruction and reuse – is a significant advantage.
The Learning Curve
Warm and enriching interiors, environmentally friendly materials, the potential for long-term energy savings, speedy construction, safe and durable schools – wood provides many advantages for school districts seeking to maximize their facilities budgets. As a result, school districts and architects are increasingly putting wood to use in all types of educational settings. "The Duke School was the first use of wood structure by our firm in an educational project, and we'd certainly use wood structure again given the right project size," says Sotolongo. "We see wood use in schools as a trend."
Case Studies
Blackfeet Community College Math/Science Building
The Blackfeet Community College Math/Science Building is the first tribal building in the U.S. and the first educational building in Montana to be awarded LEED Platinum – an achievement in which wood played a key role, along with radiant slabs, heat recovery ventilation, a passive 'solar corridor,' natural lighting, and solar panels that generate 14 percent of the building's electrical needs. "The college building is a wood/steel hybrid structure that takes advantage of the characteristics of each material," says Gordon Whirry, AIA, LEED AP, who attributes the project's success to collaboration with consulting design architect, StudioFORMA, and the project team. "Structural integrity was essential and low maintenance was a goal. The owner recognized the need for some maintenance, such as sealing exposed wood periodically, and preferred that option to completely covering the wood or using another material which would not have provided the same natural appearance." The primary roof structure consists of glulam joists on glulam beams that support a 1-1/8-inch OSB roof deck. Entrances are accented with log columns and there's an arbor built of logs for cultural activities. Exterior walls are 2x6 Hem-Fir; Montana fir 1x4 boards are used for exterior soffits and ceilings at primary circulation spaces and classrooms. "Wood helped produce a well-insulated envelope," says Whirry. "Wood assembly cavities facilitated installation of insulation which, at the roof, was spray foam polyurethane and, at the walls, blown-in fiberglass. Wood members minimized thermal transfer through the framing members. The envelope is performing well and one of the two boilers is seldom used. The calculated energy consumption of the building is 57 percent below code minimums." Whirry likes wood's warm, natural feel and the fact that it reflects Blackfeet traditional use of natural materials. He's also confident that the building itself will function as an educational laboratory. "Students and visitors can see how natural materials, sunlight and high performance systems can work together to increase efficiency, function and enjoyment." |
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Duke School
The private K-8 Duke School, located adjacent to the Duke Forest, used wood for multiple purposes from aesthetics to cost savings to energy efficiency. Early in the design phase, architects compared the cost of wood and steel structures. "The costs were comparable, but the aesthetics, sustainability, and constructability advantages of wood made it an easy choice for the owner and design team," says DTW's Robert Sotolongo, AIA, LEED AP. Designers took advantage of a glulam timber structure and wood stud walls to achieve high insulation values in the exterior building envelope, which had both cost and environmental benefits. The roof achieved a rating of R-22 with a combination of rigid nail base insulation over 2x6 wood decking with plywood sheathing board. Walls were R-19, achieved with R-19 batt insulation in a 2x6 wood stud wall. "The wood structure along with other measures as reflective metal roofing, high-efficiency heat pumps, daylighting and solar hot water heating made for energy efficiency," says Sotolongo. "Utility bills average about $.75 a square foot." A warm, rich aesthetic was created using a variety of complementing woods. "Along with integration of daylighting and exterior views, the exposed wood structure has created a warm, enriching environment," says Sotolongo. "The color palette of the natural wood structure and finishes complements the school's informal and open educational philosophy, and the open floor plan enables the wood to unify the design." The structure and decking of the school buildings is Southern Yellow Pine. Glulam columns, girders, purlins and arches comprise the main structural frames, with exposed tongue-and-groove wood roof decking used as a design element. Exterior walls are wood studs with plywood sheathing; interior walls feature wood studs with pressure-treated wood floor plates. Western Pine windows are clad with aluminum. |
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Jacob E. Manch Elementary School
Hailed as Nevada's first green school, the key part of the phased replacement of the Jacob E. Manch Elementary School is a new 70,000-square-foot facility incorporating a host of environmentally progressive features, such as classrooms entirely lit with natural light – the result of more than 500 skylights and many windows. In addition, the school is the first in the western U.S. to be built with structural insulated panels (SIPs), high-performance panels consisting of an insulating foam core sandwiched between two structural facings of OSB. "We selected SIPs because they allow more insulation and thus improve energy efficiency, and for acoustic reasons as the panels help mitigate jet aircraft noise from the nearby air force base," says Ken Small, AIA, LEED AP of SSA Architecture. Plus, he says, "almost every wall in the school is tilted to cut down on reverberation time and reduce jet noise. When you look at the school, it looks like something the architects did to make it fun for the kids, but it actually has a purpose." Cost was also a factor in using SIPs. "Estimation of concrete masonry units [CMU] and tilt-up concrete panels and replacement with SIPs resulted in approximately $1 million in direct construction cost savings," Small says. In the Nevada desert with extremes of heat and cold, SIPs were a better choice than concrete, which absorbs heat during the day, placing significant burden on the cooling system. Because SIPs offer high R-value insulation and air tightness, they limit cooling losses through the building envelope. As a result, mechanical system requirements were reduced by 50 percent, and the school experiences lower ongoing operational costs. In January 2011, the school district facilities staff announced that Manch was the most energy-efficient elementary school per square foot among the hundreds of elementary school buildings in the school district. |
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Polytechnic School
This innovative private K-12 school is a podium design, with two stories of wood-frame construction on a concrete "podium" deck. In addition to its use as a structural material, wood provides a dramatic finish throughout the school. "Wood siding and exposed wood rafters on the building's exterior are an extension of the adjacent Craftsman-style buildings on campus, evoking a familiar, comfortable feeling for students, and stained wood within the library interior provides a warmth that can only be achieved through the use of natural materials," says Kyle Peterson, Architect, LEED AP BD+C. While wood's natural beauty was an asset, Peterson says it also offered cost advantages. "Steel-framed buildings were considered, but wood-framed construction was estimated to cost $50–$75 less per square foot than a comparable steel-frame project. And thanks to Benchmark Contractor Inc.'s familiarity with this type of project, the speed of construction was amazing. The project was delivered to the owner nearly five months ahead of schedule." Given the proximity of the parking garage to the school, sound transmission was a key consideration. Per code, the underside of the floor joists of the second floor of the classroom building was required to be fire protected with gypsum board. Sound insulation within the floor joist cavity was used both to limit sound and avoid the need for additional sprinkler heads within what is considered an enclosed attic. Lastly, lightweight concrete was applied to the second floor plywood deck to absorb sound and reduce sound transfer. "Podium construction is typically used on high-density, multi-use residential projects, but considering the cost and availability of land, this model applies to educational projects very well, and will be seen with increasing frequency in the future," says Peterson. |
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South Tahoe High School
With wood beams and clerestory lighting, the South Tahoe High School looks at home in its mountain setting. "Wood was the only material capable of creating the 'alpine' appearance desired by the client and the community," says LPA Principal Wendy Rogers, AIA, LEED AP, who selected Douglas-fir for the structural members. "Cost was an important factor, but not the only one. Because much of the structure is visible, it acts as both structural system and finish. This supports the alpine theme, the budget, and a more sustainable approach to design." Durability was a key consideration, and the architecture addresses extreme winter issues, with snow design loads of 150 PSF forcing large structural members and an intricate roofing solution. "The wood roof structure was covered by a roofing system composed of modified bitumen over a rigid polyisocyanurate insulation and rubberized, self-adhered membranes to act as a vapor barrier," says Rogers. "The beam members exposed in overhangs were protected with a galvanized metal cap and all undersides of exposed members were protected with a clear water-resistant coating." Rogers' team also looked to the roof to increase functionality, creatively addressing a ubiquitous school problem – noise. Using a combination of exposed beams and recycled cotton insulation, the ceilings were manipulated to create a precise acoustic system. Recycled cotton was adhered to the underside of the deck, and between the remaining beams the slope of the exposed system was angled to reflect sound back into the space. "Because multiple spaces within the school are often used simultaneously, the acoustics within a space were as important as minimizing the sound transfer between spaces," says Rogers. "Achieving an acoustically sound space often requires additive products and layers of materials to produce the appropriate reflective or absorptive qualities. At Tahoe, the team approached this challenge with a sustainable solution that honors the exposed roof structure." |
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| ENDNOTES | |
| 1 | For more information on the WoodWorks calculator, go to woodworks.org. |
| 2 | For additional details, refer to the WoodWorks information sheet, Wood and Building Codes, available at woodworks.org. |
| 3 | Lippke, B. and Edmonds, L., 2009, Environmental Improvement Opportunities for Alternative Wall and Floor Design, CORRIM Phase II Research Report, Fact Sheet 6; converted from kilograms |
| 4 | The calculator is available at woodworks.org |
| 5 | Sarthre, R. and J. O'Connor, 2010, A Synthesis of Research on Wood Products and Greenhouse Gas Impacts, FPInnovations; Bowyer, J., D. Briggs, B. Lippke, J. Perez-Garcia, J. Wilson, Life Cycle Environmental Performance of Renewable Building Materials in the Context of Building Construction, Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, 2005 |
| 6 | Estimated by the Wood Carbon Calculator for Buildings, based on research by Sarthre, R. and J. O'Connor, 2010, A Synthesis of Research on Wood Products and Greenhouse Gas Impacts, FPInnovations. |
| 7 | O'Connor, J., 2004, Survey on Actual Service Lives for North American Buildings, FPInnovations |
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WoodWorks is an initiative of the Wood Products Council established to provide free one-on-one project support, education and resources related to the design of non-residential and multi-family wood buildings – including schools. This includes online training and events,
CAD/REVIT drawings, cost and carbon calculators, case studies, span tables and more. |
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The reThink Wood initiative is a coalition of interests representing North America's wood products industry and related stakeholders. We share a passion in wood and the forests they come from. Innovative new technologies and building systems have enabled longer wood spans, taller walls and higher buildings, and continue to expand the possibilities for wood use in construction. www.rethinkwood.com |
Learn At Your Own Pace:
You can take this course and follow along at your own pace. Speed up, slow down, or stop now and finish later. Click "Take the Course Test" to go straight to the test and earn your credits. You'll know immediately if you have earned credits and you will be able to print out your certificate of completion instantly.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this course you will be able to:
- Discuss how wood has been used as a structural and finish material in schools.
Consider the effects of wood on human health and well-being in an educational environment.
Describe the environmental and economical advantages wood brings to school construction.
Explain how wood contributes to a school's green building goals.
Credits: 1.00 HSW/SD
Course Outline:
This course is a presentation designed to earn you 1.00 AIA/CES Learning Unit. Use the onscreen controls to pace the presentation to your liking, and then click "Take the Course Test" to take the exam for this course and earn your credit.
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