Wood. Building the Future is an international road show visiting European cities starting in Milan (March 21st/21st).The WoodBox, a compact and mobile exhibition element, acts as a hub to exploring the possibilities offered by wood as a building material in urban settings. The tour, initiated by proHolz Austria and conceived to span several years, will have its first stops in Bratislava, Ljubljana and Milan, where the launch takes place on 21 March 2014.
Technological advancements in the past several years now allow for totally new ways of building using wood, making this sustainable material predestined for ambitious building projects in urban areas. Growing cities create a huge demand for intelligent ways to use densely occupied space, for energy-efficient renovation and the creation of smart living spaces. At the same time, the increasingly urgent questions associated with protecting against climate change demand environmentally conscious building practices. Wood offers perfect solutions that are still not widely known and which have not yet found the ideal conditions for their application.
WoodBox: 38 forward-thinking,architectural projects on show.
WoodBox demonstrates how building with wood can tackle completely new dimensions from long-span structures to high-rises, how innovative ways of building with wood can be applied to the expansion of existing structures, the compact building of housing and renovations and finally, the significant role wood can play in public building projects, including everything from schools to care homes.
Captions
Polo Tecnologico, Reggio Emilia, Italy (by arch. Andrea Oliva, Cittaarchitettura, Reggio Emilia). Revitalisation of an abandoned industrial zone. The historic shell was retained, whilst the interior was given a completely new spatial topography by timber elements. The structure is now home to a technology centre with university-related and research facilities. Photo credit: © promolegno, Schulte
Schukowitzgasse Kindergarten, Vienna, Austria (byKirsch zt GmbH, Vienna).Two storey, prefinished room modules made from cross-laminated timber arranged around a central structure create an interesting typology of space with a high diversity of uses. The kindergarten was completed in just six months using a passive house building methodology. Photo credit: © Hertha Hurnaus.
3 WoodBox