ClearCalcs Expert Hours with David Hourdequin (Pt. 1)

Structural Design Concepts: Heavy Timber Engineering Pt. 1 (Churches and Chapels)

About this event

While wood has been used as construction material for centuries, the use of mass timber or heavy timber in structural design is only emerging in the last few decades, and not everyone has a clear understanding of what it means.

Additionally, as steel and concrete became the preferred alternative materials in construction, there’s a surprising amount of expertise that goes into designing with heavy timber that not many structural engineers are confident with it, even though they might have a natural interest in timber as building materials.

Join our Structural Design Lead, Laurent Gérin, and David Hourdequin, President and Owner of North Carolina-based structural engineering firm D. Rémy & Co., on Wednesday, 26 April 2023, from 10 am to 11 am Eastern Time to learn more about designing with heavy timber for churches and chapels.

We will discuss some of the most interesting heavy timber engineering projects for that David has worked on in his career, such as St. Joseph Adoration Chapel in North Carolina, St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Maryland, and Horizon Community Church in Ohio.

This is your opportunity to learn from his insights regarding what worked and what didn’t, explore complex scenarios that demonstrate timber’s efficient working capabilities, and unpack structural design considerations when working with timber - all while having an opportunity to ask questions directly from our expert himself!

In this webinar, we will cover:

• Introduction to David Hourdequin and his structural engineering career history
• Overview of timber frame engineering & why it is unique in structural design, and what makes a timber frame engineer different from a structural engineer?
• Projects details: -- St. Joseph Adoration Chapel, Belmont Abby, NC: An exquisite glass-walled chapel constructed with a grid of 6x6 timbers on a five-foot cubed module in a diamond configuration, connected with Timberlinx(TM) and utilizing swaged, stainless steel rod lateral bracing. -- St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Waldorf, MD: A triple set of heavy timber, square, stacked, three-level tension, compression, and tension rings creates the structural frame replicating the traditional architecture of Orthodox churches found in the Carpathian region of Eastern Europe. -- Horizon Community Church, Cincinnati, OH: Crossed diagonal glulam trusses with steel, kerf plate, bolted tension connections supporting a twenty-ton steeple.

All registered attendees will receive a recording of the webinar after the event.