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geosynthetica’s Elizabeth Peggs and Chris Kelsey are in Baltimore attending the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) annual conference and helping introduce geosynthetics to a large group. Attendees at CSI are heavily geared towards architecture but often must incorporate engineered materials, such as geosynthetics, into their work: green roofs, landscaping, pipe protection, and much more. Little information has been presented to them, however.
This year, geosynthetica is an educational partner with the CSI Show, and articles are being planned for publication in the Construction Specifer magazine (and its Canadian publication counterpart).
Day One
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| CSI Conference attendees check out the spacious Exhibit Hall on the first day |
The first day of the event saw the opening of the massive exhibit hall (which was unfortunately not air-conditioned until about two hours before it opened, so exhibitors were literally sweating this one!). One of the grand things about CSI’s format is the lack of competition between the educational sessions (8:00 – 12:30) and the exhibit hours (12:30 – 4:30).
There are three reasons for this: one, the conference is sensitive to the exhibitors’ needs for time with attendees; two, the CSI attendees are very hands-on – they like to be able to handle the products and to ask very direct questions about applications; and three; the CSI crowd is serious about education.
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| geosynthetica.net Premium Underwriter Firestone had a booth in the Exhibit Hall |
Traffic in the exhibit hall was heavy but clustered more in the front of the hall on Day One as there are so many vendors to visit with and technologies to investigate (electronic security-minded window coatings, composite decking, truss designs, geosynthetics, etc.). Later in the day, larger clusters circulated to the back.
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| geosynthetica.net’s booth where scheduled geosynthetic educational sessions will occur over the three day period. |
geosynthetica has established a booth for introducing specifiers to geosindex.com as a professional tool and to pass along samples of materials and literature on behalf of geosynthetica’s Premium Underwriters.
CSI attendees have been very responsive to the tabular presentation of data on geosindex.com and the ability to sort information for comparative purposes.
In many instances, one attendee confessed, the specifiers are aware of only one product – for example, a particular brand of turf reinforcement mat (TRM) – so tend to stick with it. (This is similar to what in election politics is called the Incumbent’s Advantage!) But the specifiers often are required to present three options in their specifications and project recommendations. geosindex.com is a way for them (1) to learn of other products and (2) present legitimate options to their clients.
Interest was shown in the forthcoming Day Two educational sessions that will be presented in geosynthetica’s booth:
1. Grass Swale Specification (Erosion Control)
2. Prevention of Root Intrusion (Geotextiles)
3. How to Use geosindex.com
4. Specifying for Geogrids and Their Applications
As Day One wrapped up, exhibitors gathered for a nice reception in the hall to celebrate the show’s first day and to hear the announcement on CSI’s 2008 Show. That event will take place in June 2008 in Las Vegas.
Day Two
The second day of the CSI Show has opened with Bill Hawkins of Fiberweb presenting a talk on "Identifying Critical Characteristics in the Specification of Geosynthetic Drainage Materials." This session was part of the main educational sessions of CSI and the conference’s first foray into geosynthetics.
Hawkins spoke to an intrigued group of 25 attendees. Sampes of geotextile and geocomposites were passed around, and the session ran over just a touch due to session attendee questions that cropped up on application-specific use: when it might be acceptable to wrap a pipe (or purchase a pipe with a geotextile sock already affixed) rather than use drains in which the stone around the pipe is also wrapped; determining the right AOS for a project’s geotextile; and similar questions.
The samples were welcomed. As Hawkins spoke, attendees could be seen holding up fabrics to examine the passage of light through them and bending geocomposites.
It was a clear indication of the need for much greater interaction between the geosynthetics community and the many specifiers who work with a broad range of construction projects: single-home constructions; subdivision constructions; commercial and industrial; landscaping; and much more.
An Education Initiative
geosynthetica.net will have more to announce shortly about a new education initiative between industry associations, institutes, and experts (manufacturers, distributors, installers, etc.) and the larger construction community and colleges.
Events such as CSI exemplify the point that while geosynthetics may have successfully been incorporated into every major discipline of engineering, wide-spread knowledge of them – and more importantly of using them properly – is still fairly low.
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More updates from CSI soon….
