SIPschool made the long trip to Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo last month to attend  the  isotécnicaocho conference which promoted SIPs and SIP components. Speakers from a dozen different countries brought their respective views and techniques on panel production and utilization.  During the two day conference it was very apparent that attitudes from Europe and South America are aggressively pushing the envelope on several SIP issues.  The metal skin industry in Europe is being heavily supported by both engineering data and building science.  The speakers from Germany provided modeling that addressed thermal bridging and dew point analysis.  The South American speakers presented efforts on many fronts that addressed the ongoing need for affordable and durable housing.  The SIP industry is certainly alive and well outside of North America.  Our gracious host Jörg Thomsen of isotécnica facilitated introductions and networking with countless industry representatives from around the world and we look forward to the next conference, isotécnicamex III, in Mexico City March 23, 2010.

The trip was made all the more memorable by the kind attention shown by Jörg.  A full day of touring the city of Montevideo was as educational as it was interesting.  Al took a keen interest to the donkey carts and wonders if this form of sustainable transportation would work well as the school’s new airport shuttle?