Join us tomorrow! BD+C live webinar: Designing for Carbon - The Role of Wood in Climate-Conscious Multifamily Architecture
Mass timber and light-frame wood construction are recognized as essential tools for reducing embodied carbon in the built environment.
This live webinar, co-hosted by Think Wood and Building Design+Construction, provides a comprehensive look at how structural materials such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued-laminated timber (glulam) can impact the carbon footprint of new construction and retrofits while meeting performance, safety, and aesthetic goals.
Three mass timber and light-frame wood experts will explore the distinction between operational and embodied carbon, discuss the carbon benefits of wood systems, and outline how project teams can integrate these materials into projects of all types.
Through real-world case studies, attendees will see how innovative wood structures are achieving net-zero or low-carbon targets, as well as how design teams are leveraging various tools to make informed material choices.
The webinar, worth 1.0 AIA LU, will also cover practical guidance on specifying wood to meet sustainability standards such as LEED, WELL, and others, aligning building projects with evolving decarbonization goals.
REGISTER FOR THIS FREE BD+C WEBINAR
MEET THE EXPERTS:
Lisa Podesto, PE
Director of Mass Timber & Construction Innovation
Swinerton
Lisa Podesto, PE, is a key differentiator for Swinerton Inc. championing mass timber and sustainable innovation nationwide. She supports a range of activities from business development through onsite operations, educating industry and clients alike to achieve improved quality and cost and schedule savings. Leveraging her structural engineering degree and over 15 years design and construction experience in mass timber and industrialized construction, she is a leader and advocate nationally for low carbon construction, with a deep professional, legislative, and academic network.
Jeff Spiritos
Principal
Spiritos Properties LLC
Jeff Spiritos is the principal of Spiritos Properties LLC, a commercial and residential developer that builds, advocates for and consults on mass timber projects in the Northeast. Spiritos was a project lead over 25 years with Hines (primarily in NYC) before starting Spiritos Properties in 2004 and for the past ten plus years has turned to build only with mass timber structural systems, combined with passive house practices and rooftop solar, to achieve low carbon building solutions.
Principal projects include Acme Timber Lofts, a multifamily rental apartment vertical extension project, 340+ Dixwell, a mixed income affordable housing project, both in New Haven, Ct, and 79 King Street, a multifamily apartment building in Northampton, Mass, in predevelopment planning. Both the New Haven projects were selected for USDA Forest Service Wood Innovation Grants. The firm was the developer partner for the East Coast winner of the US Tall Wood Building Competition in 2015 for 475 West 18th, a 10-story condominium project in NYC, conceived but not built. Spiritos has a BSCE from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Michigan and is the chair of the CTBUH Tall Timber and Steel-Timber Hybrid Committees.
Alex Zink, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Mass Timber Lab co-leader
The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP
Alex is an experienced architect with a strong passion for and knowledge of sustainable design solutions. He is Miller Hull’s in-house expert on mass timber, providing guidance on a variety of project types on how to successfully and cost effectively implement mass timber. He has worked on over six mass timber projects over the last few years. He was also co-chair of the AIA Seattle Mass Timber Committee in 2023-2024, organizing mass timber discussions, lectures, and building tours for architects, engineers, and contractors in the greater Seattle region.
Moderator:
David Barista
Editorial Director
Building Design+Construction, Multifamily Pro+
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Differentiate between operational and embodied carbon and explain why both must be addressed to meet performance targets.
- Identify the structural, environmental, and design benefits of mass timber products such as CLT and glulam.
- Interpret carbon data to compare wood products with alternative structural materials in terms of carbon impact.
- Evaluate real-world case studies of net-zero or low-carbon buildings that successfully integrated mass timber or other wood products.
- Apply best practices for specifying wood to meet recognized sustainability certifications and rating systems.
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