Pavilion Teams

Brennan Donnelly, Cole Boileau, Billy Guarino, Maddie Cook

Tayler Jones, Brent McGrath, Lance Parson, Robert Bankcroft

Fernando Valdivia, Charles Stephens, Conrad

Zach Sherrod, Ignace Mugabo and Nolwen Charon

James Nava, Arnaud LeBerre, Adam Derr, Andrew Wilkinson

Hayden Rensch, Shenik Bora, Miriam Frank, and Nathan Suk

James Nava

Interests: James is interested in learning about CNC milling and finding
ways to apply it to the pavilion project. As a kid James wanted to be an
engineer, but got lost along the way. Outside of architecture, James
enjoys playing outside. His favorite hobby is rock climbing. Other
interests are skiing, walking around the woods, and jumping into cold
bodies of water. He is also pursuing a minor in outdoor education.

Thoughts on Teamwork: James is a strong believer in direct and honest
communication, believing that it is the foundation of a good team. James
loves when a team clicks together and becomes greater than the sum of
the parts. James likes to work efficiently, with little drama and ego.

-Arnaud LE BERRE | April 15, 2019

Arnaud Le Berre

Background:  Arnaud is an exchange student from France, he grew up in Brittany. He is studying Wood Science and engineering at Oregon State University and Ecole Supérieure du Bois. He has knowledge about wood material and learnt fundamental sciences in a french preparatory class. He has experience in wood working from a carpentry job.

Interests: This student is in fond of solving problems. He likes learning and is always looking to acquire new skills. He’s interested in manufacturing, especially the wood panel industry. Arnaud’s passions are cooking pastry and practice basketball.

Teamwork thoughts: Arnaud is looking for an efficient teamwork. The main tools to reach this goal is communication and scheduling. Arnaud will be prepared before a meeting and ready to exchange with his team.

Maddy Cook

Background: Maddy is a Wood Science major with an option in Marketing and Management. She has previously worked in the Forestry Sciences Lab and for the College of Forestry as a lab and research assistant for different long-term ecological studies. She also has experience in administrative work and customer & vendor coordination.

Interests: Outdoor activities (backpacking, fishing, rafting), cooking, travel, concerts and drawing.

Teamwork thoughts: Maddy enjoys working in a group, especially when everyone is able to collaborate well and offer different perspectives on a topic. She does well with constructive criticism and is always happy when someone can improve her own ideas! She looks forward to learning more about timber tectonics and meeting new people along the way

-Billy Guarino | April 11, 2019

Adam Derr

Interests: Adam has some experience with many modeling programs including AutoCAD/Civil 3D, SolidWorks, Rhino3D, and Google SketchUp. He also enjoys hands on projects, though his experience with wood is limited. He is happy to contribute in any way that he can in the fabrication process. Through his engineering course work he can apply many of the structural and material engineering concepts he has learned. Outside of class Adams interests include fitness, traveling, skiing, fishing, golfing, and getting dubs on Fortnite.

Background: Adam Derr is a senior at Oregon State University studying civil engineering. Originally from Seattle, he moved to down to Oregon for a different out of state school experience and plans to move to Denver after graduation to pursue a career in the construction industry.

Teamwork thoughts: Adam enjoys working in teams but finds that the larger the group, the less productive the group is. His ideal group size is between 3 and 5 people and if the group is any larger than that some people inevitably cannot contribute as much as others.

Billy Guarino

Background: Billy comes to timber tectonics with a background in landscape architecture from Cal Poly Pomona. Here he learned digital modeling and graphic skills.

Interests: Billy is motivated to learn grasshopper and learn about the qualities of wood. In particular the ways in which wood joinery can work with advanced geometry. He also is really interested in how structure meets the ground.

Teamwork Thoughts: Preferably Billy would like to work in a well-rounded collaboration where he can learn from the OSU students specialties and provide learning opportunities for them as well.

Jacob Newton

Background:
Jacob is a Senior in the Wood Science and Engineering department at Oregon State University. He graduated from Sherwood High in 2008 and spent the next seven years in the Air Force. He joined Oregon States WSE department to further his understanding of wood and woodworking practices. 

Interests: 
Jacob is interested in product development and digital manufacturing. He has focused his education on 3D modeling and the use of fabrication technologies such as CNC machines, laser cutters and 3D printing. Outside of school he enjoys wood working, refurbishment, hiking and fishing. 

– Lance Parson | April 4, 2018

Hayden Rensch

-Brent McGrath | April 7th, 2019

Background:

Hayden was born in South Dakota and attended the University of Minnesota where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in architecture. After graduation Hayden worked for an architecture firm for three years. He designed homes and garnering useful, hands-on experience. He is currently in the second year of an Architecture master’s program at University of Oregon. He chose the University of Oregon specifically for sustainable construction technologies and mass timber construction.

Interests:

Hayden is very interested in mass timber, specifically prefabricated mass timber for construction purposes. Additionally, he is interested in parametric design and digital fabrication. Outside of school he enjoys skiing, fishing, hunting and literature.

Teamwork Thoughts:

Hayden prefers to take the position of group leader. He enjoys structuring teams based on the skill sets of its member, fitting the best person to the job. He views communication as crucial and believes it is most effective in a face-to-face setting. He points out that it is easy to neglect group-mates electronically. He believes team member needs to be able to complete their tasks autonomously and that meetings should be clear, concise and to the point.

Fun Fact: Hayden and his identical twin brother were born in Deadwood (like the show) on the 4^th of July!

Jacob Newton | April 4, 2019

Brennen Donnelly

Background: Brennen is a first year graduate student in the Architecture Program at U of O and received his undergrad from Western State Colorado University in Environmental Science. He spent 5 years prior to school doing furniture design and fabrication in New York, primarily working with wood (both solid and veneer). He is well versed in Rhino, and is learning Grasshopper!

Interests: Brennen’s primary interest in this course is becoming proficient in Grasshopper. He hopes to gain a skill set in parametric design to demonstrate the structural capabilities of mass timber through artistic expression. It would be great to incorporate his knowledge of traditional joinery to the complex geometry generated by grasshopper.

Teamwork Thoughts: “COMMUNICATION IS KEY!” Brennen believes that outlining responsibilities from the start is imperative, but that members should be able to participate and learn in areas beyond their expertise! He hopes to help the team cultivate efficiency through an even distribution of workload with everyone exercising their strengths.

Andrew Wilkinson | April 5, 2019

Nathan Suk

Background: Born in Corvallis but has spent most of his time growing up in Salem, Oregon. Nathan is pursuing a major in Renewable Materials with the option in Wood Science Engineering. He was apart of Environmental club in high school and this sparked his interest in becoming a Renewable Materials major. Having experience using Solid Works and AutoCAD, he is comfortable in working with computers and the hands-on tasks. More knowledgeable in wood properties such as the physical and mechanical aspects as well as wood anatomy.

Interests:  At the end of this class he hopes to develop his design skills and creative abilities to make wood products of the future. He is excited to be working in the woodshops and producing actual models of projects during the course. During his free time, he likes to watch movies and skateboard.

Teamwork Thoughts: Nathan encourages team members to be respectful to one another when communicating. Team members should hold each other accountable as they should be able to accomplish the tasks they are given in a timely manner. A team should be able to respect each other’s opinions and ideas when shared to the group. A successful team in the end should be happy with the outcome of their products and should be able to give recognition to their team members where needed.

Cole Boileau | April 5, 2019

Tayler Jones

Background: Tayler Jones is pursuing a BA in architecture at the University of Oregon and in the process of completing her fourth year of study. She holds an associate degree in Interior Design from Santa Monica College. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Tayler has a passion for design and helping communities. She spent time in Zambia as part of a Habitat for Humanity program and received masonry training to gain hands-on construction experience. In addition, she was actively involved in the completion of a low-income housing project in Eugene, Oregon.

Interests: Tayler is a skilled user of Rhino and excels at building architectural models. She further has special interests in landscape architecture, urban design, and ceramics. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, playing with her dog, and traveling.

Teamwork Thoughts: Tayler’s personal life and various scholastic activities have taught her the importance of good communication. This experience made her an effective team player and mediator who can lead when called for.

-Miriam Frank April 5th, 2019

Charles Stephens

Background: Charles Stephens is a senior at Oregon State University studying Wood Science with an option for Marketing and Management. Charles grew up in West Linn, Oregon, and enjoys snowboarding and hiking as well as having an interest in woodworking.

Interests: Though design courses have given him experience in Solidworks, CNC operation, and other areas of fabrication, Charles hopes to gain proficiency in Rhino and parametric design. He currently works at OSU’s laboratory analyzing the physical properties of engineered timber products, and has a general familiarity with the field of design.

Teamwork Thoughts: Charles views communication as the most important part of teamwork. During past experiences collaborating with UO students, he found the greatest challenge to be ensuring everyone is on the same page and on the same track. Communication should be two ways and Charles encourages criticism- listening to each other’s ideas is critical to the process. Charles’ experience with project management and manufacturing processes means he’s particularly comfortable with this type of group work; many of his classes have featured elements of teamwork, so he’s aware of what works and what does not.

– Conrad, April 5th, 2019

Cole Boileau

Interests: Cole has worked closely with concrete and steel. He has worked some with wood, but is interested in understanding the capabilities of engineered wood both structurally and architecturally. He is interested in the load calculations and the complex design of the structure.

Teamwork thoughts: Cole believes consistent communication is an important factor in having a successful group. He believes everyone has a right to an opinion and needs to be comfortable with sharing their ideas. Understanding when things are due and reaching out to each other when necessary will be a must for this project.

Nathan Suk | April 5th 2019

Conrad

Background: Conrad is a fourth year Architecture student at University of Oregon. He hails from Bend, Oregon, and enjoys hiking, skiing, backpacking, and woodworking. He is interested in a focus on mass timber, and seeks to integrate wood technologies into his work.

Interests: As an architect, Conrad has a lot of experience with AutoCAD and Adobe software. He hopes to complete this course with straightforward and elegant designs that please the users of the potential pavilion. Though he enjoys simplistic layouts, he knows that they often require a surprising amount of work to accomplish.

Teamwork Thoughts: Conrad enjoys group work and the process of fusing ideas in a collaborative effort. He understands that compromises must sometimes be made, and is eager to work with other individuals to develop a unified and strong idea. He appreciates clear communication from and with group members and a high level of personal responsibility.

Charles Stephens | April 5th, 2019

Lance Parson

Background:  Lance Parson is a senior in Civil Engineering at OSU. He is originally from Alabama but chose OSU because of its reputable engineering program and interest in the west coast. Lance is currently developing structural analysis models at the Hinsdale Wave Research Lab. His interest in architecture stems from his wife’s career as a practicing designer and he hopes to understand what architects do every day and how they interact with engineers.

Interests: Interests relevant to the class include learning about parametric design and wood as a structural material. Lance’s personal interest is to travel and learn about Chinese culture and language.

Teamwork/Skills: Proficient in structural analysis modeling and CAD drafting. Extensive knowledge on material properties and structural capacity. As for group work, Lance prefers meeting in person but is also capable of remote communication via Slack and Webex. He is prompt and diligent, finishing work ahead of schedule and responding to emails very quickly. Lance would like to translate this skill set and his interest in wood science into a master’s thesis at some point.

Miriam Frank

Background: Miriam Frank is a senior at Oregon State University majoring in Renewable Materials with a focus in Art and Design. Born in Germany and raised in the United States, Miriam is highly motivated and detail oriented. She specializes in wood machining, CAD/CAM, multi-axis CNC routing, and 3D printing.

Interests/Activities: Previously Miriam participated in a collaboration with University of Oregon  students for a product design class. During the course of her studies she’s fabricated multiple furniture pieces for United Way in Benton County. Outside of school she enjoys reading, playing computer games, and spending time with her cats. Miriam also owns and operates a bath and body product business, which she began in 2014.

Teamwork Thoughts: Miriam is a flexible team player. She believes that communication is key, and that tasks should be divided equally and assigned based the abilities and strengths of team members

-Tayler Jones, April 6th, 2019

Brent McGrath

His future goal is to work in an innovative company that uses advanced manufacturing to optimize timber building practices with heavy timber. He wants to become familiar working with a variety of people with different backgrounds

Teamwork Thoughts: He thinks that he is best suitable for a managerial role when it comes to projects. he believes in understanding and knowing the people you are working with is crucial for building a team that trusts each other and works well together. Communicating, however it may be, is critical for our success as a team. He is pretty excited to provide as much detail and expertise in wood science as possible to help with the success of the group.

-Shrenik Bora, April 6th, 2019

Jose Fernando Valdivia Zegada

Background:  Fernando is a 5th year civil engineer student from Bolivia, currently in his last two terms at OSU. He has worked on structural projects before but considers transportation engineering his favorite field of civil engineering. He considers organization and public speaking to be his strongest assets.

Interests:  Fernando was always interested in building and designing structures as a kid. If he weren’t studying civil engineering, he would definitely be involved in architecture. He decided to sign up for this class because he wanted to learn more about design and construction with timber, a different material that he’s used to. He wants to learn about its benefits when used for structural design.

Thoughts on Teamwork:  Fernando thinks that the most important parts of teamwork are organization, involving every team member in decision making, and distributing workload evenly. He prefers to work on teams that lay out clear ideas and agree on a common goal and direction for the project.

Nolwenn Charon

Background: Nolwenn grew up and studied in the city of Nantes, a coastal city in France. After High School (undergrad level for the American system) she studied advanced Math, Physics and industrial engineering for 2 years to prepare for the competitive engineering school entrance exams. Nolwenn is now in her first year of master in Wood Engineering at the ‘Ecole supérieure du Bois’. She is here at Oregon State University for the winter and spring terms to learn about local wood species and also to discover a new way of studying.

Interests: Nolwenn enjoys learning new subjects and believes in exchanging knowledge with different and interesting people. For this course, she can see her unique background adding value to a diverse group. She believes that diversity in a project is a recipe for creating interesting projects.

Teamwork Thoughts: In team projects, she always plays a versatile role and can adapt very easily to what the group needs. Whether in a position of leader or a working member, she likes to hear everyone’s ideas because “even a very good idea is perfectible, which is at the roots of good teamwork”.

Ignace Mugabo, April 6th, 2019

Zachary Sherrod

Background: Zach Sherrod is a senior architecture student graduating this June and plans to move to Portland to work on mass-timber projects afterwards. He has participated in two mass timber group studios and considers his verbal presentation skills among his greatest strengths.

Interests: Growing up in the forests of eastern Oregon caused Zach to be interested in working with timber and now to see the positive impact timber structures and technology will have on his community. He currently studies architecture but his second option going to college was engineering, therefore he is eager to work with engineering students in order to test the limits and possibilities of timber.

Thoughts on Teamwork: Zach likes to work with a team dedicated to high quality results. Teamwork wise, he prefers a team that comes together, decides on the group’s core goals and values, breaks away to develop thoughts individually, and then brings the best off all ideas together on a comprehensive whole.

Fernando Valdivia, April 6th, 2019.

Andrew Wilkinson

Background: Andrew is an undergraduate Civil Engineering student at Oregon State University from Redwood City, California. He is in his final term and hopes to move somewhere he can live and work near the ocean. Outside of engineering he is interested in environmentalism and enjoys surfing, sailing, and playing guitar.

Interests: Andrew has a background in structural and water resources engineering. While he does most of his computer modeling with AutoCad and sketchup, he is excited to learn the new programs that will help design complex wood shapes.

Thoughts on Teamwork: Andrew appreciates clear and timely communication in group projects. He believes that sharing thoughts or updates often and freely among all members will be the key to success in this multi-discipline integrated design project.

-Brennen Donnelly – April 6, 2019

Interests: He loves woodworking, camping and working on cars in his free time and

Teamwork Thoughts: Robert has experience with Sketchup, Fusion 360, hand drawing and woodworking. He is excited to work with others and very easy going.

Robert Bankcroft

-Molly White, April 6th, 2019

Ignace Mugabo

Strengths for this course: 

Ignace enjoys working in very diverse group of students. That is why he is thrilled to take this course. Through school, he was able to develop a working knowledge of timber engineering concepts. Ignace believes this will come in hand during the course.

Working in teams: 

When working in a team, Ignace likes to make sure that everyone’s opinion is heard. He had tended to be a worker bee in previous groups, while someone else is leading the group. Ignace also tends to be flexible during projects in case there are needs for iterations.

-Nolwenn Charon, April 6th, 2019-

Shrenik Bora

Interests: Before his Masters Shrenik worked as a structural consultant giving him exposure to 3D modelling and structural analysis software. He also has a limited exposure to Rhino 3D. His crucial strength of structural understanding will help increase structural performance and improvise structures efficiently.

Teamwork Thoughts: Shrenik is a very enthusiastic person to work with, who has a good understanding of peoples’ thoughts and processes, he uses this information to help establish coordination with people and groups throughout. You will find him as someone who is always trying to push the boundaries in terms of what can be achieved as a team. He also likes to plan things in advance due to his busy schedule in order to stay as organized as possible. Ultimately, he believes that teamwork should be used to bring out the best in everybody involved.