UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, housed in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State, is set to host two concurrent conferences Feb. 28 through March 1, 2018, at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel: the fourth Residential Building Design & Construction Conference (RBDC) and the 26th Annual Housing & Land Development Conference (H&LD).
The fourth Residential Building Design and Construction Conference creates an academic forum for researchers, architects, engineers and other design professionals to share their research, state-of-the-art technologies and innovative approaches in residential design and construction. The conference will focus on a variety of residential buildings including, but not limited to, single-family dwellings, multi-family apartment buildings, high-rise residential building towers, dormitories and factory-built and modular housing.
Conference presentations will be based on submitted abstracts and peer-reviewed papers. These submissions can cover a variety of residential-focused topics, and abstracts must be sent via email to the Conference Secretariat, Sarah Klinetob Lowe, by March 15, 2017. Those who are accepted will be welcomed to develop their paper and present a 20-30 minute presentation during the conference.
The RCDC will host two keynote speakers in addition to conference paper authors.
Bohumil Kasal is the director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research and former professor in civil and environmental engineering at Penn State. His primary research interests include the “design of wood structures, assessment of historic wood structures and analytical modeling of wood buildings and residential structures.” His presentation for the conference is titled, “German Residential Construction: What Can We Learn from It?”
The second keynote speaker is Ryan E. Smith, the associate dean of research and community engagement and the director of the Integrated Technology in Architecture Center in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah. Smith’s research focuses on architectural technology in the hopes of building a more “productive, integrated, sustainable and innovative built environment.” His presentation for the conference is titled, “Global Innovations in Residential Building: Prefabrication, Modularization and Automation.”
The second, concurrent conference — the 26th Annual Housing and Land Development Conference — provides practical information and updates on issues of interest to the residential construction industry, particularly developers, builders, design professionals, remodelers and more.
Presentations at the H&LD conference are by invited speaker only, and continuing education credits are available.
Registrants are welcome to mix and match sessions between the two conferences with no additional registration or action required.
For more information about the 2018 conferences or registration, visit www.PHRC.psu.edu.