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The Committee on Design (COD) was founded to promote design excellence among members of the AIA, the broader design community, and the public at large, both nationally and internationally.

2024 COD Conferences

Arkansas

April 3-7 | 21c Hotel | Bentonville and Eureka Springs - Registration is sold out.

Brazil

Thu, Oct 17 - Sat, Oct 26, 2024
Sao Paulo > Brasilia > Rio de Janerio.  Registration will open in late April.

2024 Sponsorships

Download the prospectus for Arkansas and Brazil opportunities.


2023 COD Conferences

Last year, COD held two domestic design conferences investigating The Authenticity of Place.  The first conference was held in New Orleans, LA.  View the short video of the venue tours and download the conference program book. The second conference was held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, September 21-24, 2023. Download the Minneapolis guidebook and view the conference video

The timber revolution: CLT - the cool Urban Lumber

  • 1.  The timber revolution: CLT - the cool Urban Lumber

    Posted 12-16-2019 06:27 PM

    The timber revolution: CLT - the cool Urban Lumber 

    The dark, grey days late in the year are a great time to think about wood, a warm and cozy building material used over millennia. Wood now has a comeback in commercial urban construction.  First as 2x4s or 2x6s invisibly hidden behind drywall in wood-stick-construction of five story apartment buildings built on top of one or two story concrete decks. This cost effective wood construction method fueled much of the current boom of new apartments in cities. More interesting, though, is another method of constructing wooden office buildings and even high-rises. This feat becomes possible thanks to cross laminated timber (CLT), a form of engineered timber, a subgroup of mass timber construction. In those buildings wood becomes a visible design feature.
    CLT construction: New heights (Photo: Der SPIEGEL)

    To have a CLT building in town has become a badge of honor. The Pacific Northwest made the beginning, Washington DC has one, so does Minneapolis, Denver, and soon also Baltimore, as well as a growing number of other cities. CLT stands for being progressive and environmentally conscious. 150 years after the Chicago fire, building with wood in a major city is no longer seen as a hazard but as a cutting edge technology which is promoted not only by the timber industry but also by "smart city" proponents and sustainability advocates.
    [CLT buidings can] contribute to people's wellness, are beautiful...

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    [Klaus] Philipsen FAIA
    Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
    Baltimore MD
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West