Sustainability is everywhere these days. Just browse through the ads in Architectural Record and you'll be amazed how every single building materials producer finds something green in their product - no matter how energy intensive it was to produce. There is also an onslaught of "sustainability" events around us. Earth Day had just passed when I received a conference announcement flyer that mentioned three "sustainable" conferences on one page:

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Visiting this building was quite amazing. Not only is its shape and facade a glamorous sight from the outside, being inside makes me want to go to department stores again. It is refreshing to see a store filled with so much natural light that there is no need anymore to ask a sales attendant to escort me outside to check for a sweater's true color.

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As reported by the BBC, a 52-year-old software engineer in Scotland has built a wood and straw-bale house for a total of UK£ 4,000 (equals 8,054 US-$). Talk about affordable housing. You can see a break-down of all costs on the BBC website. Somehow reminds me of another guy from Massachusetts. He got it done with 28.12½ US-$, though.

I like visiting the Lynn Valley suspension bridge in North Vancouver. It is not as commercial as its big sister - the Capilano bridge - yet it gives you the same thrill walking over it. It was even safe for the kids - apparently the deck got an overhaul last year. What I hadn't seen before was the new cafe and ranger station next to the parking lot. This is a nice pavilion featuring a combination of wood, glass and aluminum. Main features are the big, doubled-up and angled glulam columns and connections that use shear plates and possibly split rings. What was interesting to see was that although there is a good roof overhang (and all columns being sloped inward AND large trees surrounding the location), the two outermost glulams already show quite pronounced signs of weathering.

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I finally got around to updating this year's timber engineering and wood design related conferences. You can find the list here. If you want to submit any aditional conferences, please use the comment form at the bottom of the page.