Author(s): Chris van Uffelen

Design

Whether strict and orthogonal or undulating and curved, whether rough and natural or polished and elegant...Wood is nature's greatest resource, embedded in the history, culture and life of humans worldwide. And it is ingenious as building material: remarkably malleable and at the same time resilient, recyclable in many ways and reducing greenhouse gases, universally applicable and locally available, renewable and beautiful. Today, new pro-cessing technologies extend the spectrum of its possible applications and the combinability with other building materials, enabling new technical and design solutions. In short, almost anything - structurally - can be done with it. Whatever architects and interior designers think of can be realized with wood: from energy-efficient houses via multi-story academic facilities to the interiors of fashion-able bars. The traditional building material has become ultra-contemporary and increasingly cutting-edge, offer-ing exciting possibilities for architectural design.