Shawn Lawlor’s Guest Lecture at Showa Women’s University: Promoting Sustainable Wood Design and Construction
On July 9th, 2024 Canada Wood’s Shawn Lawlor was invited to deliver a guest lecture on wood and sustainable design at the Showa Women’s University in Tokyo. A total of 59 students from the University’s Department of Architecture participated in the lecture. Topics covered included sustainable forest management, Canada’s role in facilitating the growth of platform frame construction in Japan, a review of key Canadian structural lumber species, their product attributes and suitable design applications as well as Canada’s humanitarian role in rebuilding after the earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region. According to the exit surveys, 96.6% of the lecture participants evaluated the content as either good or excellent. The key areas of interest were learning about the 2×4 construction method, sustainable forest management and international examples of wooden and mass timber construction. The lecture is primarily delivered to 2nd year architecture students. As to the future career aspirations of the students, over 75% are aiming to work in design & architecture, for a housing company or a general contractor.