{"id":27650,"date":"2024-09-18T08:22:40","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/building-a-sturdy-future-timberfever-2024\/"},"modified":"2024-09-18T08:22:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:22:41","slug":"building-a-sturdy-future-timberfever-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/building-a-sturdy-future-timberfever-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a sturdy future: TimberFever 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

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TimberFever 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What started as a small competition, with only eight teams made up of one university, has grown tremendously over the last 10 years \u2013 hosting 96 students from 10 different universities, producing 16 teams. TimberFever<\/a> is an engineering and architecture competition where students work with one another to design and build a timber structure. Initially founded by structural engineer David Moses back in 2015, TimberFever was designed to inspire and encourage conversations between engineers and architects in the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure to see it develop,\u201d says Shanuja Nagarathinam an associate engineer at Moses Structural Engineers, who has been a part of TimberFever for the last nine years. \u201cIt\u2019s more and more students every time.\u201d The competition spans three days. The first day is for design and the second is for construction and building logistics. The third and final day focuses on the finishing touches and the anticipated award ceremony \u2013 where the winning team is awarded a cash prize of $1,500.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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TimberFever 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Every year, students are tasked with a unique and challenging design brief that includes the rules and guidelines for competition. This year\u2019s specifically focused on homelessness and building cabin communities with <\/span>Two Step Homes<\/span><\/a>, a nonprofit corporation founded to help resolve the unsheltered crisis in Toronto. Together, teams made of five or six students must create a timber shelter that fits within the guidelines of the brief. The structures are then judged by a panel of architects, engineers and industry leaders. \u201cIt\u2019s important to have a non-restrictive theme,\u201d says Moses, who encourages participants to be as creative as they\u2019d like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great dynamic and we\u2019re bouncing ideas off each other,\u201d says Laurentian University architecture student, Ashleigh Leung. Toronto Metropolitan University architecture student, Ariya Chib, echoes Leung\u2019s sentiment. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for us to experience what it is like to work together.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carpenters\u2019 Local 27 volunteers joined the students on-site and provided their expertise on design construction. \u201cLocal 27 has been a huge help,\u201d says Zoe Baird, a structural designer with Moses Structural Engineers. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have gotten this done without them.\u201d A Carpenter of 12 years, Niel Jespersen has been mentoring TimberFever students for the last three competitions. \u201cIt\u2019s really enjoyable to see everyone working together,\u201d says Jespersen, who helps students with using the tools properly and creating flex loads, columns and beams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jonathan Mock, intermediate structural engineer and Zoe Baird, structural designer with Moses Structural Engineers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The whole event is produced, hosted and developed by the Moses Structural Engineer staff and typically takes six to seven months to plan. The biggest takeaway for Moses Structural Engineers is seeing the students who participated in the beginning years join the industry now as professionals \u2013 typically with an interest in wood or timber design. \u201cSome of them even come back as mentors,\u201d says Nagarathinam. \u201cWhich is always nice to see.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Completed TimberFever structures. Image courtesy of TimberFever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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