Many wood products are underutilized in the construction of nonresidential buildings. To understand better why this is so, a mail survey was conducted in both Canada and the United States to determine how specifiers (arcitects and structural engineers) learn about building materials.Results indicate that, while architectural schools spend an adequate amount of time teaching students about timber design, engineering schools devote little time to teaching wood use as compared to time spent teaching students about steel and concrete. This is despite the fact that over 60% of the specifiers who work on buildings less than five stories in height have designed with wood. However, much of the learning about materials occurs on the job, where the most effective means of education include reading materials, data files, manuals, cororate promotion, and word of mouth. Specifiers who do not currently use wood are likely to be most influenced to do so through the use of physical examples such as demonstration buildings and case studies.Long-term cooperative programs, including lobbying efforts and promotional campaigns, are needed to ensure that material specifiers have the knowledge and training required to be able to use traditional and new wood products that are ideally suited for nonresidential construction in North America
