Build in Wood 2019 - day 2

Build in Wood 2019 - day 2

This post has been written by Henriikka Taipale, graduate from the Bachelor of Architectural Technology and Construction Management program at Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA). In her Dissertation Report and Bachelor Project she studied engineered timber construction in Denmark. She also writes about wood on newnordictimber.com.

Build in Wood - The second edition of the largest wood construction and architecture event in Denmark
The second conference day was kicked off by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts with an introduction to innovative, self-supporting timber structures known as reciprocal frame structures. Borrowing from the centuries-old Japanese and Chinese techniques, the team has developed an easy to build assembly of mutually supporting beams made of plywood strips that can be repeated, disassembled and adapted to different uses.

KIRKBI introduced us to the process and results of developing an extension to the company headquarters in Billund, built with engineered timber. The first step of the journey was to visit similar timber buildings abroad to understand the material and how to build with it. In the end, the glulam and CLT structure was calculated to have a CO2 footprint of only 16% of an equivalent office building built with steel and concrete.

Austrian, award-winning architecture company Dietrich Untertrifallen inspired the audience with a broad range of completed timber buildings across Central Europe. For three decades, the company has continuously developed construction techniques with wood, and today has an impressive legacy of timber houses, apartment buildings, schools and sports halls.

The topic of wood and health brought together a group of specialists offering different perspectives on what impact wood can have on the indoor climate and building users. We learned about the moisture buffering abilities of different wood surfaces, concerns about the VOCs emitted by wood, as well as how visible wood affects the people experiencing architecture.

In order to invest in competencies and enhance knowledge-sharing within wood construction, Arkitema architects has founded its own in-house specialist department, Arkitema Timber. The goal is not only to collaborate within the company’s various Scandinavian offices, but to also exchange knowledge with manufacturers, academia and other industry actors. To accelerate the adoption of timber construction in Denmark, getting the public sector onboard and utilizing the skills of conservation specialists and carpenters were some of the suggestions made.

Build in Wood 2019 closed with a talk by architect Jonas Sangberg on ambitions for a sustainable and light future. To achieve that, Sangberg and his team have for example built a housing development in Vanløse using prefabricated wood modules and developed a concept for sustainable co-living for seniors built with CLT.

The second edition of Build in Wood offered a remarkable program with a great diversity of speakers and insightful exhibitors, along with a curious and open-minded audience. We are already looking forward to what the third Build in Wood will bring along in May 2020.

If you missed my previous post on the first conference day, you can find it here.