Woodrise 2025
Speakers
Meet the Speakers
More speaker announcements coming soon!
Andrew Waugh
Position: Director,
Waugh Thistleton Architects
United Kingdom
Categories: Plenary 3: Construction Innovations
Andrew is a Founding Director of Waugh Thistleton Architects, a practice dedicated to delivering beautiful buildings and places that acknowledge their impact on the environment. He is a world-renowned spokesperson for low carbon architecture and innovative construction, and lobbies and lectures internationally, communicating the urgent need for change to mitigate the climate crisis. Andrew demonstrates his commitment to driving forward a green transition in the construction sector as a member of the steering committee for Architects Declare as well as a Senior Fellow for Architecture 2030. A pivotal player in the global shift towards renewable, bio-based materials, Andrew’s innovative approach to design has been acknowledged by many awards including the RIBA President’s Award for Research and a Stirling Prize nomination in 2018 and the UK Practice of the Year award for 2023. The practice is currently engaged on both research and design projects throughout Europe and North America.
Andrew Waugh
Director,
Waugh Thistleton Architects
United Kingdom
Bob van der Zande
Position: Urban Strategist – Director Build-in-Wood, Metropolitan Region Amsterdam (MRA), City of Amsterdam
Categories: Plenary 1: International Policies & Incentives
Bob van der Zande is Urban Strategist. Advisor of Cities, Regions, Investors and Developers. Focus on building-in-wood and mass timber, social impact, inclusive area development, public-private collaboration (Triple Helix).
He is Director Mass Timber Programme in residential development in the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam (MRA): 20% of all new homes are to be built biobased/in mass timber by 2025. Successful in accelerating the timber movement together with 140 subscribers of the Timber Covenant (2021- 2025) and 30 real estate partners.
In March 2023 he became member of the Board of Built by Nature Foundation that stimulates the use of timber and other natural materials in the building sector worldwide with grants. He is chair of the National Houtivation Foundation that is scaling up the use of timber in the real estate industry. Also chair of the National Knowledge Center for Biobased Construction.
Chair of Urban Land Institute (ULI) the Netherlands for 4 years, past chair of the European Urban Regeneration ULI Council and Global ULI Trustee since 2018.
Bob van der Zande has been working in the public sector for decades at the City of Amsterdam and the MRA (30 municipalities, 2 provinces).
Director Residential Markets for the City of Amsterdam 2009-2019, responsible for several residential programmes in the city and the region, such as speeding up midsegment rental housing, the self-built housing programme and student and youth housing.
He graduated as urban designer at the Delft University of Technology in 1978.
Born in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), February 2nd 1953
Bob van der Zande
Urban Strategist – Director Build-in-Wood, Metropolitan Region Amsterdam (MRA), City of Amsterdam
Cristiano Loss
Position: Assistant Professor,
Department of Wood Science,
University of British Columbia
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Dr. Cristiano Loss is an Associate Professor in the Wood Science Department at the University of British Columbia (UBC), specializing in sustainable structural systems with an emphasis on high-performance hybrid wood-based structures and performance-based optimum design procedures for a resilient built environment. Dr. Loss completed his master’s structural engineering program and obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering of Civil and Mechanical Structural Systems at the University of Trento, Italy. Before joining UBC, Dr. Loss worked with the Wood Design Engineering Research Group at the University of Northern British Columbia and other research Laboratories in Europe. Dr. Loss has an outstanding knowledge of wood in structural engineering, having conducted research within several multi-disciplinary research projects supported through funding programs in Europe, Canada, and Australia. He is a voting member in several subcommittees of the ASTM-D07, a designated member in two subcommittees of the CSA-O86 Canadian Standard, and a member of many International Scientific Committees, including the World Conference on Timber Engineering. Among successful knowledge transfers from academia to industry, he has been granted several patents.
Cristiano Loss
Assistant Professor,
Department of Wood Science,
University of British Columbia
Hiroshi Isoda
Position: Professor
Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere Kyoto University
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Dr. Hiroshi Isoda received his Ph.D in Faculty of Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1995. From 1990 to 1995, he was a Faculty and an Assistant Professor in Architecture and Civil Engineering at Shinshu University where he taught in the area of Structural Engineering. He moved to the Building Research Institute (BRI), National Institute of Japan, as a Senior Researcher in 1995, where he involved in the revision of Japanese Building Standard Law. In 2000-2001, he was also a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Structural Engineering at the University of California in San Diego, where he analyzed the seismic response of four index wood buildings within the FEMA-funded CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project. In 2006, He was a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo where he involved in the shaking table tests of the NEESWood Project. He moved to the Shinshu University as an Associate Professor in 2006 and was elevated to a Professor in 2011. He moved to the Kyoto University in 2013. He is now a Professor in Laboratory of Timber Science and Engineering at Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere of Kyoto University.
Hiroshi Isoda
Professor
Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere Kyoto University
John W. van de Lindt
Position: Ph.D., F. ASCE
Harold H. Short Chaired Professor
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Dr. John W. van de Lindt is the Harold H. Short Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University. He has conducted more than 50 research projects related to buildings and other systems related to earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes and floods. Van de Lindt led both the NEESWood and NEES-Soft project teams between 2005-2013 which consisted of two-story, four-story, and six-story shake table tests on the world’s largest shake tables including in Miki Japan and San Diego, California. He is the past Chair of ASCE’s Technical Administrative Committee for the Structural Engineering Institute. He is the Co-director for the National Institute of Standards and Technology-funded Center of Excellence (COE) for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning headquartered at Colorado State University. Professor van de Lindt led the project to introduce cross laminated timber (CLT) into U.S. building standards and codes as an approved seismic force resisting system, served as a Co-PI for NHERI Tallwood and NHERI Converging Design Projects. He has published more than 450 technical articles and reports including more than 260 journal papers, served on a number of editorial boards, and is the Editor-in-Chief of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering.
John W. van de Lindt
Ph.D., F. ASCE
Harold H. Short Chaired Professor
Marie Johansson
Position: Researcher
RISE
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Marie Johansson has been working as a researcher at RISE since 2014. Here research areas at RISE have mainly been timber engineering, with areas such as tall timber buildings, connections, prefabrication and material properties. Marie was the project coordinator for the international project DynaTTB – Dynamic Response of Tall Timber Buildings under Service loads as well as several national projects regarding Tall Timber buildings. She has a PhD from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden and has been Professor in Building Technology at Linnaeus University.
Marie Johansson
Researcher
RISE
Michael Sørensen
Position: Partner and Design Director,
Henning Larsen
Categories: Keynotes and Other
Michael Sørensen is the Global Market Director at Henning Larsen. Based at the international design studio’s headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, he oversees strategic market development and client engagement. Previously, Michael led Henning Larsen’s New York studio for five years, directing projects across North America.
As Design Director, he leads large-scale initiatives, collaborating with multinational teams to ensure a consistent design vision through all stages of design. His leadership reflects his belief that architecture should create meaningful human connections and positively impact communities. Michael’s portfolio includes notable projects such as the Downsview Framework Plan in Toronto which reimagines the 250-acre former airfield into a human-scale, people-first community.
Known for its holistic approach, Henning Larsen creates environments where transformative ideas flourish. The studio has earned prestigious accolades, including the International Architecture Award, Architizer A+ Awards, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award, and the Mies van der Rohe European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.
Michael Sørensen
Partner and Design Director,
Henning Larsen
Minghao Li
Position: Associate Professor,
Department of Wood Science,
University of British Columbia
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Dr. Li was trained as a structural timber engineer. Before joining UBC Wood Science, he was an associate professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He has researched extensively on high-performance engineered wood products and connection systems, multi-storey mass timber and timber-steel hybrid structures. He has a strong interest in developing robust and innovative timber building solutions via experimental, analytical and numerical techniques.
Minghao Li
Associate Professor,
Department of Wood Science,
University of British Columbia
Paul King
Position: CEO,
Built by Nature
The Netherlands
Categories: Plenary 1: International Policies & Incentives
Paul is CEO of Built by Nature, a not-for-profit organisation whose vision is a built environment in unison with nature. Previously Paul was Managing Director, Sustainability and Social Impact, Lendlease Europe. He was the founding CEO of the UK Green Building Council. Before that, he worked for WWF-UK as Director of Campaigns, Campaign Director for WWF’s One Million Sustainable Homes campaign and co-founder of One Planet Living. Paul was a trustee and Vice Chair of the Board of Centre for London, the city’s only dedicated think tank, and a director of BeOnsite, a not-for-profit focused on bringing unemployed people from disadvantaged backgrounds into sustained employment.
Paul was Chairman of the public/private sector Zero Carbon Hub and a member of the Zero Carbon Homes 2016 Task Force, established by the UK Government to translate the zero carbon homes policy ambition into reality. He was a member of the UK Government’s Green Construction Board and Chair of its Buildings Working Group. On an international level, he was a member of the Board of the World Green Building Council and Chair of the WorldGBC Europe Network.
Paul King
CEO,
Built by Nature
The Netherlands
Philipp Zumbrunnen
Position: Operations Director,
EURBAN
United Kingdom
Categories: Plenary 2: The Role of Business Leaders
Operations Director
Philipp was born in Switzerland, training first as a carpenter and foreman and then as a Project Manager for a Zurich-based Architectural office specialising in timber buildings. Philipp then studied at Bern University of Applied Science, Architecture, Wood & Civil Engineering in Biel, qualifying as a timber Structural Engineer in 2007. He went on to work at Blumer-Lehmann AG as a Project Engineer before moving to London to work as the Design Director at Eurban. He currently directs and manages Eurban’s team of Engineers and Architects.
Philipp Zumbrunnen
Operations Director,
EURBAN
United Kingdom
Pierre Quenneville
Position: Professor of timber design
University of Auckland
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Pierre is professor of timber design at the University of Auckland and Chief Technical Officer at Tectonus. He served as the Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2011 to 2017.
Structural engineer specializing in timber structures, Pierre’s expertise is with timber connections.
His work on timber connections under earthquake loads led his research group to develop a resilient damper that re-centres buildings, reducing the need to demolish buildings following an earthquake event.
He co-founded Tectonus in 2016 to commercialise the resilient damper and conducted R&D to demonstrate the damper advantages in steel, concrete and timber buildings (for new builds and retrofits).
The resilient damper is in use in buildings in New Zealand, in Canada and under consideration for building projects in the USA and Japan.
Pierre Quenneville
Professor of timber design
University of Auckland
Shiling Pei
Position: Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, USA
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Dr. Shiling Pei received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University in December 2007 and joined the faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado School of Mines in Fall 2013. His research focused on traditional and innovative timber systems, performance based engineering, structural dynamics, and large-scale testing. Dr. Pei received the 2012 ASCE Raymond C. Reese Research Prize for his work on a full-scale 7-story wood-steel hybrid building test at Japan’s E-defense shake table. He led the NHERI TallWood Project and completed shake table test of a full-scale 10-story mass timber building, which earned him recognition by Engineering News-Record as one of the 25 News Makers in 2023. Dr. Pei currently serves as the Chair of the ASCE Technical Committee on Wood Design, and also manages an Open Forum for timber engineering at https://timberengineering.org/
Shiling Pei
Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, USA
Shoichi Nakashima
Position: Senior Research Engineer
Department of Structural Engineering, Building Research Institute, Japan.
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Dr. Nakashima has a background in both engineering and agriculture. Before joining BRI Dept. of Structural Engineering, he engaged as JSPS research fellowship at RISH, Kyoto University, and served as an assistant professor at Utsunomiya University. His research focuses on the development of structural design methods for joints in mass timber buildings, as well as the seismic resilience performance of wooden structures, including both traditional wooden houses and modern mass timber buildings.
Shoichi Nakashima
Senior Research Engineer
Department of Structural Engineering, Building Research Institute, Japan.
Steven Ware
Position: Senior Partner,
ARTBUILD
France
Categories: Plenary 3: Construction Innovations
Born in London and raised in Jamaica, Steven studied biology at Western University and architecture at the AA, graduating with honours. As a partner with ArtBuild architects, he steers the development and application of bio-adaptive design principles, seeking new ways to fuse ethics and aesthetics. The practice’s internal Lab works with biologists, academics, industrialists, and research groups to develop biomimetic concepts which can be transferred to mainstream construction practice. Steven lectures widely on subjects that bridge biology and the built environment, exploring the very nature of intelligence informing architects and the building sector at large.
Steven Ware
Senior Partner,
ARTBUILD
France
Thomas Catterou
Position: Research Engineer and Research Coordinator
FCBA
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
For more than 6 years I have been working at the FCBA as a research engineer and research coordinator of the timber construction department. Specialised in civil engineering and structural mechanics, my doctoral thesis focused on dynamics and finite element analysis. At the FCBA I lead projects on seismic behaviour of buildings, non-destructive testing, vibrations in lightweight floors and modelling of timber structures.
Thomas Catterou
Research Engineer and Research Coordinator
FCBA
Thomas Tannert
Position: Professor,
Wood Engineering,
University of Northern British Columbia
Categories: Technical Workshop Speakers
Thomas Tannert joined the University of Northern British Columbia in 2016 as BC Leadership Chair in Tall and Hybrid Wood Construction. He received his Ph.D. from UBC, a Master’s degree in Wood Science and Technology from the University of Bio-Bio in Chile, and a Civil Engineering degree from the Bauhaus-University Weimar in Germany. Before going to UNBC, he worked in multi-disciplinary teams in Germany, Chile, and Switzerland and at UBC Vancouver. Dr. Tannert holds a Canada Research Chair and is member of the executive of the technical committee for CSA O86 “Engineering Design in Wood