About the Subject:
In the construction industry, choosing the right materials for a building project is crucial. Factors such as weather, building height, load profile, and aesthetics must be taken into account. Additionally, sustainability and minimizing environmental impacts are now key considerations [1]. This involves analyzing attributes like construction waste, embodied carbon, material reusability, and overall carbon footprint [2]. Mass timber has emerged as a viable alternative to traditional concrete and steel, challenging misconceptions about its strength [3]. Safety and structural integrity are addressed during the design phase. Understanding these differences is vital for structural and environmental engineering to ensure sustainable building practices for the future.
Essential Questions:
The essential questions you should be asking yourself going into the class are:
- How does the building material affect its greenhouse gas emissions?
- What considerations should I consider when choosing a building material?
- How does a buildings location affect the building materials?
Getting Started:
Start out with the main learning modules of our Interactive Learning Resource in Course Outline.
- Try your best to complete each activity and assessment. These will help guide your learning, and you are also able to receive feedback from the formative assessment in the end of each subtopic.
To learn more about the design of our Interactive Learning Resource see the drop-down in the menu under course overview. Or follow the links below:
- An overview of the resource (this page)
- A description and rationale for the learning theory and design.
- A description of our learning context and learning inclusion.
- Learning outcomes that are achieved in this resource.
- Brief commentary about each topic and activity (see subtopics).
- Assessment plan.
- A rationale for your technology choices.
- Links to each peer review of this resource and a rationale for why we did or did not incorporate our peer’s recommendations into your final resource (click here).
- References
Image Source:
“structural materials that include steel beams, concrete columns, and mass timber, laying together” prompt. Text to Image, Canva, 09 June 2023, canva.com/your-apps/text-to-image.