Raising our Standard: The Timber Framers Guild Path to Curriculum and Apprenticeship Development

The Timber Framers Guild formed in 1985 with a primary goal of establishing an apprenticeship and career path for aspiring tradespeople. After 25 years we are finally climbing out the nest of requirements for registration of our program with the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL). These included the development of a training curriculum for timber framing that itself required a survey and study of companies and professionals to determine what a journeyworker should know. The curriculum gave us a template to develop training materials as well as a timeline for our three-year apprenticeship.

In this presentation well look at the models and precedents we used from other trades, including blacksmithing and log building, to both develop our curriculum template and look ahead to the realities and viability of a highly-specialized trade in the 21st-century. We’ll explain why we feel a DoL-registered apprenticeship is necessary, and illustrate the challenges still ahead, such as:

How large a role should preservation play in our training?
How can our small industry support or afford the apprenticeship?
How are apprentices selected and where do they go?

There are still obstacles to overcome to implement our apprenticeship program, not the least of which is the current economy that makes hiring new apprentices difficult. But the lessons we’ve learned and the path we’ve taken includes valuable information for any of the trades that want to establish a supportive framework for training new workers.

Biography: Will Beemer is a founding member of the Timber Framers Guild and has served as Co-Executive Director for 10 years. He's been a builder for 40 years, and an educator in the building trades for thirty of those. Along with his wife, Michele, he owns and operates the Heartwood School in Washington, Massachusetts, which has been teaching courses in timber framing, home building and other trades since 1978.

Will has taught timber framing courses at Rocky Mountain Workshops in Colorado, Palomar College in California, numerous Guild workshops, and in such far-flung places as Patagonia. He has led tours of historic buildings in England and France, and presented at the annual meeting of the UK Carpenters Fellowship. He is a regular contributor to Timber Framing, the quarterly journal of the Timber Framers Guild, and has also written for Fine Homebuilding and Joiners Quarterly.

Will is Guild liaison with the Traditional Timberframe Research and Advisory Group (TTRAG), a special-interest group within the Guild that focuses on the documentation, repair, prevention, reconstruction and reproduction of historic timber frames.

Engaging Youth and Creative Partnerships:  A Multi-disciplinary case study

Dr. T Allan Comp works with small mining communities in both Appalachia and the Rocky Mountain West, coordinating teams of VISTA Volunteers working to strengthen the capacity of these communities, preserve and honor their collective histories, and engage citizens in improving their communities through responsible redevelopment and environmental remediation.    The Western Hardrock Watershed Team, based in Hotchkiss, CO, is a team of 17 OSM/VISTA Volunteers working in historic mining communities throughout Colorado.  WHWT Coordinator Torie Bowman and VISTA Volunteer Nadia Hebard will present a case study based on this work.
 
Using the WHWT as the case study, Bowman and Hebard will examine creative and transferrable approaches they use to engage young people in environmental work, preservation efforts, and public interpretation of community history.   They will examine the ways in which historic preservation overlaps with environmental remediation to create a truly multidisciplinary approach to community redevelopment.   The presentation will also examine the innovative and unique partnerships required to establish this successful movement throughout Appalachia and the Rocky Mountain West.   The presentation will be highly interactive, with opportunities for participants to apply the examples of the WHWT to trade education in the 21st century.  This presentation will build a foundation for a multidisciplinary approach to the importance of the trades industry, with conservation of the built environment linking with the conservation of the natural world.  

Biography: Torie Bowman has served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA for the past two years , beginning with the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team as the Recruiter for a group of 40 VISTAs.  Over a year ago, Bowman began coordinating the Western Hardrock Watershed Team and quickly expanded the Team from 4 to 17 positions throughout Colorado.  Bowman will end her AmeriCorps*VISTA term in August to attend law school.    

Nadia Hebard has served as a VISTA in Mancos, CO since November of 2008 and prior to that she had extensive teaching experience.

Realizing the Potential of Historic Trades Education in the West

Virginia City, Montana survives as a cultural landscape of the gold rush era. Besides its value as a historic site, Virginia City’s biggest asset is its potential to become a world class heritage education and preservation trade campus. The areas exceptional offering of historic structures in their original context, supported by a broad spectrum of stories, legends and personal histories from previous inhabitants, provides an exciting educational environment where the historic building trades can be explored hands on.

The western United States provides just a handful of real world trades educators. Virginia City offers an opportunity to fill the void in trained craftspeople throughout the region and offer the world something truely unique and interactive on a multi-disciplinary scale. The site offers examples of nearly every medium: masonry, log and framed structures, interior finishes, high style architecture and everything in between. Cultural knowledge, gained through archaeology, historic research and building study, has only begun to be realized. One could come to Virginia City to learn everything from daubing a cabin, to researching the history of a historic property; from learning the blacksmith trade and replacing a sod roof; to excavating artifacts and exploring the function of a historic brewery. The wealth of the site's potential to offer genuine trade educational opportunities and experiences is practically endless.
Currently, a handful of specialists conduct the bulk of the preservation work throughout Virginia City from soup to nuts, along with offering specialized workshops and preservation training sessions. We would like to invite educators, trade professionals, IPTW-ITES conference attendees and all those of the preservation community at large to consider joining in the development of a sustained heritage preservation campus model in Virginia City, Montana - A concept recently endorsed by the National Council for Preservation Education.  The rare and exceptional quality of one of the nation’s older and larger National Historic Landmark Districts continues to bridge the gap in preservation education worldwide and is poised to serve as a model for the future teaching of the historic (traditional) building trades.

Biography: I have been working as a Preservation Specialist in Virginia City, Montana for about three years. As an employee of the Montana Heritage Commission, my team members and I have been responsible for all aspects of the preservation of over 200 historic structures. My duties include, but are not limited to: critical stabilization, documentation, restoration, and research of stone, frame, and log buildings.

My education consists of an Associate Degree in Historic Preservation and Restoration Technology at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California, graduating in 2006. Further Preservation experience was acquired working in a custom millwork shop for two years alongside my college education, developing cutting knives to match historic profiles of moldings, siding, rosettes and the like. All of this has supplemented my experience as a carpenter’s apprentice, a trade I have worked since a teen. Currently I continue to develop my trade skills within the world of historic preservation.

Building Foundations: Quantifying Skilled Labor Needs in the Building Repair and Restoration Sector

Despite concerns over traditional building craft skill shortages in the United States, little effort has been made to empirically quantify labor supply and demand issues in the repair and restoration sector of the construction industry. This paper aims to demonstrate the use of workforce surveys to analyze shortages and identify needs building an evidence-based foundation to inform training and labor market planning decisions. Data collected from a survey of masons in New York State are presented, establishing current workforce characteristics and capacity to meet demand. Projections formed from analysis of this data reveal that workforce aging and recruitment trends will likely lead to a shortage of workers skilled in masonry repair and restoration in coming years. Deficiencies are identified and recommendations are made to counteract the projected shortage of masonry skills in New York State. Prospective for further research and application of skills needs assessment surveys to other repair and restoration building trades are discussed.

Biography: Edward FitzGerald began working in the repair and restoration sector at an early age as an architectural metal refinisher in Chicago. He received his Masters degree in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University in 2009. In 2007, he was awarded a student scholarship to attend the IPTW held in Frederick, Maryland. FitzGerald has worked with numerous organizations on trades training issues including the Scottish Stone Liaison Group in Charlestown, Scotland and the National Center for Preservation Training and Technology in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He is currently Co-Chairman of the US/ICOMOS National Committee on Training.

Action in Education and Volunteerism

Historic Green is a national non-profit organization whose main focus is currently organizing and sponsoring an annual Spring Greening volunteer event, held in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. Spring Greening is organized annually by a nation-wide network of volunteer leaders, who seek to create partnership through action with organizations such as the Preservation Resource Center, the Lower 9th Wards Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, and the United States Green Building Council, Preservation Trades Network, among others. The event is scheduled to maximize Spring Break volunteers from schools around the nation, and draws volunteers from many building-professional networks such as Engineers Without Borders, the Emerging Green Builders and US Green Building Council, Preservation Trades Network, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and others. Utilizing partner-identified projects in need of skilled volunteers, while creating several unique ғfocal point projects, Historic Green seeks to involve community members and volunteers from all over the country to work on three focus areas: green spaces, green community, and green homes.  By integrating educational sessions and workshops during the Spring Greening event, led by experts on a variety of subjects, community members and volunteers learn about sustainability, preservation, deconstruction, and then have the opportunity to apply this knowledge immediately on the project sites.  During this session, learn about Historic Green’s unique formation, its partnerships, successes and lessons learned, and future training opportunities.

Biography: Heather Gay, LEED AP, is responsible for the sustainability consulting at Kandiyohi and recently took on a part-time position at Dunwoody College of Technology, where she developed and taught the first introduction to sustainability course for the night college. She is currently helping Dunwoody's architectural drafting and construction supervision programs incorporate green building theory and practice into their curriculum, as well as teaching two morning classes on green building. She has a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management and a minor in Urban Studies from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Heather is the former co-chair and co-founder of the Twin Cities Emerging Green Builders committee. In 2007, she was voted to the board for the USGBC Mississippi Headwaters Chapter and elected secretary of the chapter in 2009.  Heather is one of the co-founders of Historic Green.

Jeremy Knoll, LEED AP. Co-founder of the Historic Green event, Jeremy Knoll is currently a Project Architect with PGAV Architects and an elected member of the Emerging Green Builders (EGB) National Committee. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, he helped to establish the Kansas City EGB committee in late 2005. After starting his company’s recycling program, he took the lead on pursuing the integration of sustainability into PGAVҒs projects through creation of the PGAV-Vision team. Jeremy was instrumental in organizing Kansas City’s Natural Talent 2007 Design Competition, highlighting the work of university students and individuals with less than five years of experience in the building industry. In addition, he participates in the regional initiative The Greening of Greensburg, Kansas.

How to Preserve and Sustain Our Skilled Restoration Craftsmen

For the last forty years, the historic preservation movement has been concerned with the shortage and/or lack of skilled craftsmen for restoration projects. Many attempts have been made by various organizations to start schools, run summer training sessions, and even have certified specialty training laboratories. Weekly and weekend seminars have been a popular tool, as has the hiring of special craft instructors for specific projects. All of these have been effective to a degree and should be continued. I would like to trace the history of many of these programs and analyze their relative strengths and weaknesses. I think a parallel study of all skilled construction workers during the same period will show that we are not alone in our continuing search for talented, committed workers.

One bold vision that I would like to put forward, would be the creation of certification and registration of restoration/preservation workers throughout the United States. Ideally, a once a year, weeklong testing of knowledge as well as hands on technical skills, could become a culmination of years of study and hard work. Such a program might have levels as well as specific classifications (carpenter, stone mason, metal worker, and maybe even job superintendent). The ultimate goal would be to certify people from all parts of the country with the idea that they were transportable either for a temporary or permanent relocation. If the certification became respected, then apprenticeships and traditional school programs might encourage their students to seek out the designation. A registry of these certified workers could then be published allowing contractors, architects, and owners to feel better about the basic quality of their project teams.

Biography: Jameson Gibson holds a B.A. (Art History) from Centre College of Kentucky.  He has worked for the   Fairfax County Park Authority as a Craftsman in the History Department, at the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a Craftsman Apprentice in the Restoration Workshop at Lyndhurst, and since 1977 as the Owner and Founder of Gibson/Magerfield.  He has been the President of the local chapter of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) Charlottesville-Albemarle, and Chair of the Foundation Board of the Albemarle County Historic Preservation Committee.  Publications include: The Role Of Apprenticeship Training Today presented September 8, 1989 Chicago, Illinois presented to the Association For Preservation Technology (APT), Dewatering Historic Structures Using Modern Technology, Paper presented to the Association For Preservation Technology (APT) September 26, 1991 New Orleans, Louisiana, Waterproofing Historic Foundations, Old House Journal, Lane Press May/June 1992, Volume XX, Number 3, p.41-45 Burlington, Vermont

Hands-On Education That Works

As educators and trades professionals, we understand our leadership role in forcing hands-on education to persist. Without the ability to do, the academic mind is limited to processing ideas and thoughts. At most, 20% of our society graduates with a four-year academic degree. This highlights our lack of responsibility to educate a majority of working society.

Public education has erroneously justified the erosion of vocational trades training programs in the secondary schools and community colleges. Academic degrees are of highest interest with legislature, college administration and Board members who set campus policies and budgets without consideration for career technical education.

The need for an intelligent trained workforce is crucial. History shows that craftsmen were creative, intelligent, resourceful and highly respected. Historically, the trades-based training system relied on the master teaching new apprentices. Through attrition, weve lost trade masters and remain void of replacements. This is not sustainable. Vocational education today is critical in the long-term reconstruction of the trades force.

Project-based learning means greater student success and retention. Moving beyond the school walls with customized training programs results in hands-on educational experience focused on service learning, building preservation, and community revitalization as student outcomes.
 
Sustainable and Green Building Technology has the spotlight in an era where one of the main problems to meet these new technological demands is a prepared and trained labor force. A new Green Collar workforce is predicted to fill the void of unemployment. How will we dovetail building conservation into this sustainable future?

Biography: Bill has been working with his hands for thirty-six years using most building materials and tools. Boat building, custom carpentry, concrete, structural steel, materials science, cabinet and millwork, all shaped his skills for teaching new home design and construction at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California starting in 1991.
 
In 1996 Bill developed a hands-on Historic Preservation and Restoration Technology program (HPRT), which still is unique on the West Coast. Curriculum development has led students to both a one-year Certificate and a two-year Associate of Science Degree option. Directing HPRT has taught Bill to succeed in grant writing, marketing and public relations, as all of these factors supplant typical school do not supply.

Bill designs custom training programs for contractors and agencies that manage public historic resources. Building analysis and conditions assessments are one of the first lessons for every project. Traveling to lecture and teach in workshops/conferences has become a method to stay globally aware of the larger labor and preservation issues.

For the past ten years he has served as an Historic Preservation Commissioner for the City of Eureka, board member of County Historical Society, and since 2006 directs a Field School, along with writing in local newspapers about historic preservation; creating strong community support. He thrives on teaching people the successful use of tools, preservation techniques, craft and critical thinking skills that are fundamental to building conservation and recycling our historic resources. "Preservation is about community working together to sustain pride of ownership".

Keynote Speaker - Creating an High Performance Construction Environment Which Motivates Skilled Craftspeople/Trades

The construction industry is in turmoil as clients use minimum standards and requirements to convey complex construction requirements and award projects on low price.  This is an inefficient management, direction, control, and inspection model which makes construction management more important than the skilled craftspeople that are doing the work.  The resulting environment is one where skilled craftspeople are difficult to find, where low price is more important than the level of work being performed, and where on the job training is replacing high quality training programs for craftspeople and trades.  A new environment has been developed to reverse the degradation of the construction industry trade/craftsperson skill levels.  The best value environment measures the level of performance of the contractors, critical construction personnel and critical subcontractors, forces the hiring of highly skilled personnel, and creates an efficient environment where the clients receive greater quality and value, the contractors provide the best value at the lowest cost, and are motivated to be on time, on budget, and meet quality expectations.  The Historical Preservation Environment is one of the most critical environments which require highly trained craftspeople/trades, training programs, and clients who understand the risk and cost of nonperforming craftspeople.  Projects with best value environments have been tested across the United States with city, state and federal agencies, universities, and private entities resulting in 98% performance (on time, no contractor generated change orders, and high customer satisfaction.)  These environments are also being created in Europe, Africa, Australia, Malaysia, and Pakistan.

Biography: Kashiwagi is a professor at Arizona State University’s Del E Webb School of Construction and also the Director of the Performance Based Studies Research Group (PBSRG).  Kashiwagi is the worldwide leader in improving performance and efficiency.  Kashiwagi has developed a hands off approach to managing contractors or vendors in any industry.  His concept is contrary to traditional price-driven procurement. The technology has been tested over 600 times totaling $2.46 Billion ($744M in construction projects and $1.7 billion in non-construction/professional service projects) with a 98% success rate since 1994.  Kashiwagi has integrated these concepts into a Facility-Project Asset Graduate Program at ASU.  Kashiwagi is a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award 2008-2009 to teach these concepts at the University of Botswana, Africa.   He is currently implementing two major projects in Africa. Kashiwagi is an accomplished author on project performance (14 books, 100+ publications).   Prior to ASU, Kashiwagi was a Project Engineer for the US Air Force during his 14 year tour.       

The Building Trades: Cultural Changes and their place within Historic British Society

Reaching back to civilised antiquity, the building crafts are repositories of a long and noble artistic and technical heritage. Jealously protected through their craft guilds and encouraged within coveted apprenticeships, fostered all artisans with an intuitive regard for the intrinsic possibilities of their respective materials, realised by coordinated and highly-developed crafting skills in combination with the trained eye.  These traditions and their benefits in developing fully rounded craftsmen have, through the formal actions of professionals and bureaucrats working within construction yet outside of the crafts and craft education, largely been neglected over the last generation. They have consistently viewed traditional apprenticeships as outdated, expensive and unnecessary in modern construction with its wholesale pursuit of the simple, functional designs that only demands basic knowledge for 'fixing' skills; a seriously misguided policy that has systematically reduced all the crafts to almost a semi-skilled status. Such people had no empathetic understanding of why the building trades mattered and how society needs their quality craftsmanship.

How did such a paradigm shift occur within both the building trades and with society’s perception of them? This paper explores some of the complex reasons behind and, the consequences of the collective failure of the building trades to demand the historic right to control their destiny; ensuring quality of education and training.

Biography: Gerard CJ Lynch is an internationally acclaimed and highly respected historic brickwork consultant, master bricklayer, educator and author. He followed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, and over the years through his natural ability within his craft he gained many awards, including the Silver and Gold Trowels from the Brick Development Association and is a Licentiate of the City and Guilds of London Institute (LCG). He is a former Head lecturer in Trowel Trades at Bedford College, where he pioneered a revival of interest in gauged brickwork, in which he is considered one of the world's leading authority, and other almost forgotten traditional craft skills. He set up a private consultancy practice in 1992. He is the author of Gauged Brickwork: A Technical Handbook (Gower 1990, revised 2006 Donhead), Brickwork: History: Technology and Practice (volumes 1 and 2) (Donhead 1994). Also various peer-reviewed papers and articles on aspects of his craft, which have received wide praise for their content and have led in the revival of interest for traditional historic building practices and their re-interpretation. His expert opinion is now regularly sought for proposed repairs and restoration for many domestic buildings, some of immense national importance, such as Hampton Court Palace, The Old Admiralty, The Royal Albert Hall and Windsor Castle. This has also extended to internationally important brick buildings. In this consultative capacity he undertakes condition reports, detailing causes of failure, making recommendations for appropriate remedial actions, writing specifications, delivering bespoke training, or acting in a Clerk of Works role. Gerard has also been called up on to act as an Expert Witness within his field of expertise.

Merging Trades and Academics at Historical House Museums

In my experience there is a lack of common ground between the academic operations of a historic house museum and the building trades.  The problems are usually connected in some way to communication and perception of knowledge.  On the academic side there always seems to be too much emphasis on what degree you have from where and on the trades side I have seen education held against people.  I believe it is important to have a solid academic and trades background to successfully work at a historic house museum.

Why is this important?  Because to be the most effective at a historic site one needs to be a knowledgeable in multiple areas.  If on staff one will be best served if they can conduct research, determine the cause of a problem with multiple materials and be able to preserve, conserve or restore those materials.  While if you are a person of the trades working at these sites you will be best served if you understand museum procedures and how to respect all aspects of the site.

I feel the best way for common ground to be found at these historic sites is through internships and field schools at these historic sites.  The experience of working at a historic house museum where one can get exposure to almost all aspects of the Preservation field is invaluable. These internships and field schools are a great place for student, educators, academics and trades people to begin establishing a common ground.

Biography: I graduated from Western Michigan University with a B.A. in Public History. While doing Section 106 review I decided that I want to continue my education in Historic Preservation, specifically I wanted to gained hands-on restoration training.  While researching my options of schools I decided to attend a trades based program.  I graduated with my Applied Associates of Science from Belmont Technical College's Building Preservation/Restoration program.  Since then I have had the opportunity to work on some of America's most treasured historic landmarks.  I have worked as the Restoration Specialist at Mount Vernon and I am now the Director of Preservation at Stratford Hall.

The Role of Higher Education in Traditional Trades Training

As late as the 19th century, the construction trades were considered highly desirable fields which required manual dexterity, critical thinking skills and advanced technical knowledge.  This array of skills attracted highly qualified apprentices who were academically proficient and career driven.  With the advent of higher education in America, the role of the training shifted from the practitioner to the technical and vocational schools and the quality of the student began to slowly diminish as parents, teachers and guidance councilors pushed their children into career paths that were more deemed more socially and financially advantageous, leaving those who were not deemed "college bound" to fill the trades and other jobs perceived to be laborious in nature.  Today, students who struggle academically or who are socially maladjusted are often pushed into high school vocational programs.  This influx of under-prepared and often unmotivated class of students along with the shift to assembly like construction practices during the post-war building boom has led to the “dumbing” of the trades. 

Today’s preservation trades programs have begun to challenge the academic paradigm of the past 50 years by reinventing traditional trades education under the banner of historic preservation and at a collegiate level.  This paper will discuss the evolution of trade’s education in America with emphasis on the student and their role in the education process and will conclude with the author's vision of the future. 

Biography:  David R. Mertz continues to serve as the director of the Building Preservation Technology Program at Belmont Technical College in St. Clairsville, Ohio, a post he has held since the program's inception in 1989.   He is currently serving as Vice-President of Preservation for Heritage Ohio, Ohio’s statewide non-profit.  He served four years as Chair of the National Council for Preservation Education, the consortium of colleges and universities that offer undergraduate and graduate programs in historic preservation, and four years as Chair Emeritus.   He currently serves on the editorial board of Preservation Forum, a publication of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  He has authored numerous articles in national publications relating to trades education.  He is a graduate of Kansas State University with a bachelors and masters degree in architecture and a certificate in Regional & Community Planning.   He currently serves as architectural consultant to the St. Clairsville Board of Architectural Review and lectures frequently on technical aspects of historic preservation and community revitalization.

Keynote Speaker - Cultural Landscapes of Jeddah and Saudi Arabia - Meeting the Challenge of Skills Training for Preservation

Sami Nawar will present the unique cultural landscapes of Jeddah and Saudi Arabia and the challenges the country faces in developing trained architects, engineers, and trades personnel to address the preservation of the Saudi cultural heritage. 

America's Community Colleges: The Untapped Potential for Preservation Craft Education

There are 1195 community colleges with over 1600 locations in the American community college system.  Since the first public community college was founded in 1901 in Joliet, Illinois, more than 100 million students have attended community colleges earning academic and career and technical training credentials.  Over half of all undergraduates in America are studying at community colleges.  The reasons for continued community college proliferation are attributable to four factors.  First, public community colleges admit degree and non-degree seeking students on an open enrollment basis.  Second, demographic trends show record numbers of secondary school children will reach college age during the next decade along with record numbers of displaced workers and professionals seeking retraining or second careers.  Third, average annual tuition costs are one-third the equivalent four-year college.  Fourth, community colleges return the equivalent of $3.00 in social and economic
benefit for every $1.00 of taxpayer investment.

Despite these impressive statistics, there are only three public community colleges offering preservation craft degrees and certificates certified by the National Council for Preservation Education.  This number is down from five as recently as five years ago.  This paper explores the history of preservation trades education in community colleges and offers explanations for the failure of the discipline to proliferate.  It concludes with recommendations as to why this trend should and can be reversed.

Biography: Robert W. Ogle is an Associate Professor, and Director of the Historic Preservation Program at Colorado Mountain College.  Prior to developing the program for Colorado Mountain College, he served as Administrative Director of the Center for Historic Architecture and Preservation and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the graduate historic preservation program, College of Design at the University of Kentucky.  He also served as Historic Preservation Program Development Director and Instructor for Bucks County Community College. 

Mr. Ogle hails originally from Bucks County Pennsylvania which served as home base for his entrepreneurial interests for more than 20 years.  In 1999, he turned his business acumen toward helping educational institutions integrate the design disciplines of architecture, interior design, engineering and historic preservation to better meet industry demand.  In 2004, he co-founded Design Lab, Inc. and currently serves as President and a director of the not-for-profit company.  Design Lab, is a design-build firm that matches interdisciplinary students, faculty and practitioners to the execution of real world development projects.  Mr. Ogle is a frequent speaker on the subject of the business and economics of historic preservation and consults on historic preservation pedagogy and curriculum development. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado and has earned a Master of Historic Preservation degree from the University of Kentucky, a Certificate in Historic Preservation from Bucks County Community College and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and economics from Philadelphia University.

European Exchange Program of Apprentices and Young Workers

The "Compagnons du Devoir" organize for about 4000 apprentices (principally learning construction trades) every year during 2 or 3 weeks a professional stay in another European country.

Biography: Alain Rolland started as timber framer apprentice when he was 17 years old. During 10 years he followed the "Tour de France" of "Compagnons du devoir", working every 6 month in a new state for a new company. Alain  Rolland  has been teaching timber framing for 6 years, then he became civil engineer and worked for several large building contractors . He founded his own company in France 7 years ago, mainly involved in project management; he founded also two other companies in South-Africa.

Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Masonry Preservation Training in Harlem

Jonathan Rendon, Construction Manager for YouthBuild, the Abyssinian Development Corporation (ADC) Workforce Development program, will provide an overview of the Harlem training initiative that provides at-risk youth with an opportunity to receive their  GED high school equivalency diploma while working on renovation projects to exploring careers in the construction industry.

Tom Russack,  the Instructor and Originator of the ADC Masonry Preservation Program, will discuss the hands-on masonry preservation training curriculum using photographs of students activities via a PowerPoint presentation.

Biography: Tom Russack is a third-generation New York City bricklayer with 35 years experience in the construction trades. As the Senior Project Associate (Manager) for Rand Engineering & Architecture, P.C. he has worked on numerous Landmark buildings in Manhattan including the Hotels Algonquin, Times Square, Warwick and Theresa. Mr. Russack has a Masters Degree in Historic Preservation and was a member of Durham Technical Institutes first preservation training class in 1979. He is currently the Masonry Preservation Instructor for YouthBuild the Abyssinian Development Corporations Workforce Development program in Harlem, NYC. His Masters thesis The Development Of An Introductory Preservation Masonry Program For High School Age Students is the basis of  the masonry preservation training curriculum.

Educating for Architecture and the Trades: Finding Common Ground

In our increasingly technical, computerized culture, beginning architecture students, today, typically lack the ability to make anything, and this has a decidedly negative effect upon their ability to find a convincing basis for architectural form and order. Faced with the increasingly short "half-lives" of architectural styles that result at least in part from this groundlessness, architectural educators seem ever more pressed by questions about whether there remain any core values in architecture and, if so, what they are and how they might be taught. There appear to be several ways that the trades can make a significant contribution to architecture education. To date, the potential of the trades as pedagogical tools, helpful and perhaps indispensable to the education of architects, as they once were, has barely been explored in architectural schools. Are there comparable dilemmas in trade education today? If so, what are they and how might collaborations between architecture and trade schools be developed to overcome them? This session will address the following:

What might the trades contribute to architectural education, and how?
What might architects contribute to trade education, and how?
What difficulties need to be overcome to facilitate educational collaborations between architects and trades people?
What educational problems are common to both disciplines?
Is there a root cause or causes for these common problems?
Is there a theoretical framework which can make a significant contribution to understanding these educational problems?
Do architecture and the trades share a common set of core values?
What sorts of connections exist between making, body knowledge, and built order?

Biography: Professor Schneider teaches Architectural History and design at Virginia Polytechnic in Blacksburg, VA. He specializes in stereotomy, descriptive geometry and architectural stonecutting, teaching a course that includes having the students actually cut the stones for a vault with traditional hand tools. He also teaches a course in graphic statics for beginning architecture students. This course emphasizes visual (graphic) methods rather than the use of algebra to introduce techniques for determining the stresses in vaults, arches and trusses. Students in this course build structural models of trusses and test them using contemporary testing equipment.  In addition he teaches a seminar on the history of geometry in architecture. He has also taught architecture at the University of Houston, Georgia Tech, and Tuskegee University, and landscape architecture construction at Leeds Polytechnic in Leeds England.

Concentrating on architectural history, Professor Schneider wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the Architectural and Perspective Geometry of Girard Desargues (1591-1662) under the guidance of Alberto Perez-Gomez of McGill university and the late Morris Kline of the Courant Institute of Mathematics in New York City. Since then he has lectured on architecture and education throughout the United States and Europe. He received the Diggs Teaching Scholar award at Virginia Tech as well as a teaching excellence award. In 2000, he was awarded a grant to study the geometry of Maya architecture on site in Middle America. He is currently completing a book on the history of stereotomy the art and geometry of architectural stone cutting.

A wave of new developments and changing eonomies have attempted to integrate development with working agricultural landscapes. This effort is attempting to preserve both the aesthetic and traditional values of ranches while addressing the realities of the new built environments. Are these projects working? How do we educate the next generation of preservationists to address an ever-changing built and natural environment. What are the challenges in an educational setting? What have we learned from the early efforts and where do we go from here?

Biography: Ekaterini Vlahos is an Associate Professor of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado and the Director for the Center of Preservation Research (CoPR). She is a licensed architect and practiced for 18 years on both coasts prior to entering the academy as a full-time faculty member.

Her investigations emphasize understanding the development of working landscapes of early Colorado settlements. Her professional practice, research and teaching are integrated and focus on the documentation, preservation and interpretation of vernacular working landscapes in the West, in particular, ranches. As a native Coloradoan, her insight comes from personal experience and family ties to ranching in northwestern Colorado. Her research explores sustainable and low-impact design within the context of historic ranching landscapes as architectural solutions to western sprawl.

Historic Scotland Traditional Skills The Scottish Approach

 A Place to Build - Defining the challenge of the 21st Century for trade based education and industry. This session will cover practical application of the development of standards and practices for teaching traditional trades methods and building preservation/conservation technology.  Historic Scotland (HS) working with Partners has facilitated the uptake of traditional skills through various incentives in the craft skills education system.  Nearly all training in the craft skills area is based around new build construction with little focus repair and maintenance. H S has set up a number of initiatives which include:

Strategic Partnership with Scottish Qualifications Authority and Construction Skills: his partnership will allow H S to influence traditional skills and materials into all new and reviewed craft qualifications.
Industry Training Groups ( ITG): working with Contractors, Trade Federations Colleges to have a voice that can be heard by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Construction Skills. These groups will lead the way in skills development. Continuous Personnel Development: designed for College tutors to raise their awareness of traditional skills and materials.
National Progression Award Conservation of Masonry (NPACM): developed to fill a gap in traditional masonry training. The award is made up of the following: Principals of Conservation; Working with Traditional Mortars; Masonry Materials Performance; Consolidation of Masonry Structures;
Masonry Repairs
Surface Finishing to Masonry Walling.

On line Teaching Materials: the units which make up the NPACM are fully backed up with online teaching materials developed by the ITG

Biography: Ian Walker has worked in the Construction industry for the last 25 years.  He served his apprenticeship as a bricklayer and worked in various sectors of the construction industry in including site management. In 1996, Ian studied Architectural Conservation at the Glasgow College of Building & Printing, now Glasgow Met, and for the last 10 years he has project managed various construction training projects in Scotland & England.  Prior to joining Historic Scotland as Head of Traditional Skills in August 2006 Ian worked for the City of Edinburgh Council.