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Courses Offered

In addition to University General Education requirements, the curriculum in the Building and Construction Technology major builds upon a foundation of introductory mathematics, chemistry, physics, and computer literacy. Department courses cover a background in natural resources plus courses in building materials technology, wood science, building materials management, and wood-based product technology. The remainder of each student’s program includes electives in areas such as engineering or business according to the individual’s career objectives and chosen curriculum option. Students may prepare for continuation to advanced study at the Master’s or doctoral level, but most graduates accept employment immediately.

All courses below are three credit courses unless mentioned otherwise.

BMATWT 191A – The Built Environment
Fall – Prof. Damery

This course explores the issues of sustainability from the perspective of the built environment, our history of construction and expansion, and buildings and how they interact with the natural environment. Students will be exposed to issues of human impacts on natural systems through the built environment and the variety of disciplines that are working to create a more sustainable future.

BMATWT 204 – Construction Materials and Methods
Spring – Prof. Schreyer – Website – Syllabus

This course provides an introductory overview of the various construction materials used in common (and uncommon) structures. After receiving an introduction into fundamental principles of structural, physical and long-term performance, students learn about material and product manufacturing techniques and how they relate to mechanical and nonmechanical properties of the various materials. Students have the opportunity to experience material capacity and behavior in demonstrations and lab experiments. Furthermore, material applications and detailing in structural and non-structural building components are explored. Resulting from this course, students gain a comparative knowledge of material properties and possible applications in construction and architecture.

BMATWT 211 – Energy Efficient Housing
Fall – C. Marden / Prof. Fisette – Website – Syllabus

Introduction to energy conservation, as the most cost-effective, environmentally safe method for lowering energy costs and dependence on a finite supply of fossil fuels. Primary discussions involve technical issues, dealing with building methods and materials used to save energy. Political, economical and environmental issues are inextricably connected to conservation, and will factor heavily on classroom dialogue. Lectures will focus on fundamentals of residential energy use involving energy-saving materials and products, energy-efficient design, energy storage, affordable housing, political impact, and regulatory developments.

BMATWT 220 – Introduction to CAD for Construction and Architecture
Fall/Spring – Staff / Prof. Schreyer – Website - Syllabus

This course provides students with a broad introduction into Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) with a focus on construction- and architecture-specific applications. By using popular CAD software (such as Autodesk AutoCAD as well as Google SkecthUp) in hands-on exercises, assignments and projects, students gain the capability to use CAD to model construction projects and create and distribute industry-standard architectural drawings.

BMATWT 304 – Properties of Wood
Fall – Prof. Schreyer – Website – Syllabus

Wood is an amazing building material: It is beautiful and warm to the touch. It is easy to machine and abundantly available. It is light, yet strong and stiff. And best of all: It comes from a renewable source. To build with wood, however, requires understanding its peculiarities: the variability of its properties, its interaction with water and the possibility of biodeterioration.
This course introduces students to the physical and mechanical properties of wood. It provides an overview of wood-based products and exposes students to structural systems in wood. Basic techniques for physical measurement and mechanical testing are introduced by conducting and analyzing several laboratory experiments.

BMATWT 313 – Principles of Light-Frame Structure Technology
Fall – Prof. Fisette – Website – Syllabus

Provides an understanding of the use of building materials in contemporary light-frame construction applications. Close attention paid to the sequence of events that occur on most construction sites. Review of the entire residential construction process, site preparation through roof shingling. Leading-edge products and technologies and analyzed and compared to conventional ones. Course work is tied closely to the arrival of new products, technologies, and political issues affecting the construction industry.

BMATWT 314 – Architectural Blueprint Reading and Estimating (2 credits)
Spring – Prof. Fisette – Website – Syllabus

Lectures, discussions and workshops provide students with an understanding of the architectural language. Students learn to interpret architectural drawings and prepare accurate “take-offs”: itemized lists of the types and quantities of various construction materials used in a given construction project. Course presented in two sections: the interpretation of construction drawings, and the estimation of quantities and costs of materials specified in architectural drawings.

BMATWT 352 – Building Materials and Forest Products Marketing
Fall – Prof. Damery – Website – Syllabus

Introduces marketing concepts as applied to the building materials industry, the “4 Ps” of marketing; product, price, place and promotion of both consumer and industrial building materials products, market segmentation, industry structure and competition.

BMATWT 353 – The Business of Building
Spring – Prof. Damery – Website – Syllabus

Introduces business concepts to students interested in design and fabrication of structures. Managing a project, contracts, marketing scheduling, personnel, leadership, interpersonal communication, human behavior, finance, budgeting, ethical and legal considerations.

BMATWT 392A – Seminar in Kiln Drying (1 credit)
Prof. Damery – Website – Syllabus

Introduces students to the theory and practice of drying softwood and hardwood lumber. Gain understanding of wood moisture relations. Learn and have hands-on experience with current lumber drying methods.

BMATWT 397B – Wood Structure Design Studio
Prof. Clouston / Prof. Schreyer - Website - Elective

Timber Bridge Design provides an opportunity for students to actively participate in the creation of a small pedestrian timber bridge. While working together as a team, the class will design, build and nondestructively test a timber bridge.

BMATWT 420 – Advanced Topics in CAD
Spring – Prof. Schreyer – Website – Syllabus

Building upon skills acquired in the “Introduction to CAD for Construction and Architecture” course, this course presents advanced topics in architectural CAD software. Centered around problem-based tasks, topics such as parametric building design, building information models (BIMs), material takeoff, energy-efficient planning, visualization and others will be explored. Industry standard CAD tools such as Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD and Google SketchUp will be used to accomplish this.

BMATWT 492B – Career Development in the Building Materials Industry (1 credit)
Spring – Prof. Damery – Website – Syllabus

Students learn to write cover letters, create resumes, develop relevant interviewing skills and meet industry leaders. Each week a different business professional meets with students in this class to discuss careers in the industry. Often, the speakers are potential employers who are accepting resumes. Some speakers will schedule interviews for internships and full-time job placement.

BMATWT 530 – Mechanics of Building Materials for Construction
Fall – Prof. Clouston – Website

Introduces students to the mechanical behavior of engineered wood products and wood composites as contemporary structural building mateirals. Basic structural concepts including statics and strength of materials are addressed in a practical, hands-on manner. An overview of the relative merits of common structural wood products is provided. Practical applications of wood-based materials are highlighted throughout the course through in-class examples and illustrations, homework assingments and lab tutorials.

BMATWT 540 – Design of Wood Structures
Spring – Prof. Clouston – Website

Provides students with a fundamental understanding of structural engineering wood design principles. Focus is placed on design procedures – as well as underlying assumptions therefor – for wood members in residential, commercial and industrial applications. Through class examples and assignments, students will learn design techniques for individual wood components including: beams, columns, trusses, wood/steel connections, and diaphragms using both conventional lumber products and state-of-the-art engineered wood products.

BMATWT 597E – Building Energy and Environmental Systems
Prof. Hoque – Website

The purpose of this course is to provide a working knowledge of building environmental systems related to heat transfer, moisture, ventilation, plumbing, and fire protection. The focus will be on the application of energy efficient principles in real world situations. The course will be a combination of classroom lectures and labs, field trips, guest speakers from the HVAC industry, and student presentations, organized as such:

1 – Building Science Principles (building dynamics)
2 – Thermal Control Systems (passive and active HVAC systems)
3 – Plumbing and Fire Protection
4 – Student final presentations

All students who have taken BMATWT211 (Energy Efficient Housing/Building Physics III) are eligible to enroll. Priority will be given to graduate students and seniors.

BMATWT 597P – Project Management for Design and Construction
Spring – L. Pavlova – Website

This class introduces the fundamental concepts of project management for sustainable design and construction and is suitable for students in various disciplines, particularly architecture, engineering, construction, information technology and management.   Topics to be discussed include project initiation, integrative planning, implementation, monitoring, control and closeout; effective goal setting, documentation, scope/quality, budget and schedule definition; team organization, contracts and negotiation, risk management, legal, environmental and other issues throughout the project life cycle.

BMATWT 597Q – Building Energy Performance Analysis
Prof. Hoque

The course will be a team-oriented hands-on field exercise in analyzing the energy performance of high performance homes. We will be measuring and evaluating how “high performance” these homes are, in terms of durability and efficiency. Students will become knowledgeable in building energy management and energy audit techniques.

Objectives: Each team of students will be assigned a high performance home to assess in terms of: water use, energy consumption, infiltration, insulation levels, and moisture leakage.

Students who have taken BMATWT 211A (also known as ARCH-DES 520) will be given priority.

BMATWT 597S – Building a Formalized Plan for your “Green” Positioning (1 credit)
Spring – B. Bean

This class builds upon the student’s current technical and/or market knowledge of the “green” space by introducing and demonstrating simple concepts in strategic and tactical planning that can transform their concepts and ideas for “green” business initiatives into definitive actions and results. The techniques presented will help the student develop, articulate and execute a “green” strategy and a transition to “green” both internally, through a change in culture, and externally through a change in market positioning. The course would also benefit those who want to learn the basics of formalized planning for any application as a keystone for future career development or for application in a future “green” business transition.

Each student (or group of students) will be asked to identify a “green” initiative where a formalized business plan would help drive successful execution. The deliverable of the course is a written plan framework to achieve the vision for that initiative. The plan will include a Vision, Mission, 3-5 Objectives, Strategies for each Objective, a sample Action Plan and Metrics to measure progress toward results. The student will also learn a simple proven approach to communicating their plan to achieve the stated vision in a team environment.

BMAWT 597T – North American Building Traditions
Fall – J. Peters

Builders of handcrafted wood structures (e.g., log, timber frame) participate in traditions that originate deep in pre-history. The purpose of the course is to provide BMAWT, architecture and geography students with an understanding of North American wood building traditions, their origins, and the geographic methods upon which much of our understanding is based.

Traditional knowledge is information and wisdom that people in a given community have developed (and may continue to develop) over time, based on experience and adaptation to local cultures, resources, and environments. It is “traditional” not because it is old or non-technical, but because it reflects the traditions of the communities that developed it. Typically, it is rooted in the long inhabitation of a particular place. Thus, traditional buildings provide a record of a group’s relationship to its physical and social environment.
The course will examine North American building traditions beginning with ancient and pre-European contact Native American building. Then, it will cover the European log and timber frame building traditions that were established in North America by early European settlers, addressing building on the North American frontier and during the subsequent early settlement period. It will cover the introduction of professional European carpentry practices to North America with the second wave of European migration. After addressing the development of “stick-built” methods and the Craftsman movement, the course will conclude by exploring contemporary, handcraft log and timber frame construction.