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I love wood.

jplourde

No, seriously, I love it. I love everything about it. It's my bestest most favoritest material.

Some species have more tensile strength to weight ratio than steel, it weather and ages well, the range in grain and colouration is fascinating, it's reusable, regenerative and recyclable. It's perhaps the only material that has almost no sustainability downside.

Here's some great projects! Copy paste! [I think Archinect needs to rexamine it's linking system. Maybe employ some 'architects' get it? Get it!!?]

http://www.situstudio.com/fabrication/index.html#casestudies/architecture/architecture/01_ojs

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,25907,27404,27601&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=alvar+aalto+wood&cp=15&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1358&bih=565

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1358&bih=565&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=george+nakashima&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=g6&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1358&bih=565&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=jean+prouve&aq=f&aqi=g5&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=



Post your own favorite wood spaces, millwork, or details!

 
Nov 15, 10 2:32 pm
Mizzi

When it comes to wood my favorites are Gramazio&Kohler

Nov 15, 10 2:50 pm  · 
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jplourde

Miz- super nice! Do you know anything about their process? Grasshopper, GC? CNC milling?

Nov 15, 10 2:56 pm  · 
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Mizzi

And of course the Briefcase House

Nov 15, 10 2:56 pm  · 
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Mizzi

I only know that they use Rhino and a fancy robot for the construction process. Also check out this, this and this.

Nov 15, 10 3:10 pm  · 
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jplourde

Looks like grasshopper to me!!!! Looks amazing, but I don't see anything specifically pertinent to design in wood. Couldn't one do the exact same thing in GRC or brick?

I like GS when he talks about the 'soul of a tree'. I think he literally means it, but I think there's another level as well. Wood wants to be worked a certain way. The grain direction and it's subsequent properties informed Japanese joinery. As it did and does in the work of Situ studio and Nakashima.

Nov 15, 10 3:38 pm  · 
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Mizzi

Well, I am not a big fan of the metaphysics of wood, but I am with you when it comes to specific requirements of wood as a material. As far as I can tell Gramazio&Kohler don't use the materiality of wood. Actually, they first started their research with bricks.

Nov 15, 10 3:54 pm  · 
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Rusty!

I'm not sure how I feel about wood... In architectural terms, '70's and '80's just happened yesterday. I'm still recovering from the trauma.

Nov 15, 10 4:57 pm  · 
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RealLifeLEED

I like turtles.

Nov 15, 10 5:00 pm  · 
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how 'bout turtles with kittens??

Nov 15, 10 8:15 pm  · 
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mdler

concrete > wood

Nov 15, 10 8:16 pm  · 
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Rusty!

They see me rollin'...

Nov 15, 10 8:35 pm  · 
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binary

banked my daytons off the curb......with the 3 wheel motion


wood is great

Nov 15, 10 8:43 pm  · 
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druf

One thing I hate about working in Florida is that you basically can't use wood for an exterior application. Between the sun, humidity and insects, it gets chewed up pretty quick (unless you use something like Teak that requires rain forest clear cutting).

I envy people who work in temperate, low humidity climates.

Nov 15, 10 9:26 pm  · 
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I feel you druf. Sadly most of the native woods in Florida were cleared for highways or are rightly environmentally protected. Same here in Jamaica

Nov 15, 10 10:36 pm  · 
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jplourde

Isn't it merely a matter of better stewardship? Can't one use teak in Florida or Jamaica if one protects and admires the sources? Clear cutting is ridiculously stupid. What sort of power do architects hold in this context? I love teak, I also love cedar [which is supposed to be somewhat robust to the salty air/sea water.] I also love reclaimed red oak from Victorian houses. Wood, man!




Nov 16, 10 5:04 pm  · 
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beekay31

While I also love wood (dad & granddad are carpenters, physically built our home, a lot of our furniture, sold a ton... few skills are more useful than carpentry), it's not THAT renewable at the rate society wants to use it. If it were, our hardwood forests wouldn't be entirely depleted, Bush/Cheney wouldn't have continually tried to log our national monuments, veneers wouldn't exist, etc., etc....

Nov 17, 10 2:40 pm  · 
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jplourde

beekay, [bk?] nothing is sustainable if it's overused beyond replenshing capabilities... But what I mean by 'sustainable' is that wood is one of the few materials that are naturally sustainable: On one hand during it's 'forelife' it sequesters carbon and creates oxygen, obviously. And on the other hand it's readily reusable and or recyclable.

I think it's a matter of good stewardship. If there is a high demand, the sources should learn how to meet it. If all the beer companies went back to oak for brewing, then the oak producers should try and meet that demand. Likewise, a tree farm can be dangerous if overly monocropped without enough diversity, but isn't that just cash-rop syndrome? Wood can be fantastic if we let it. Wood can save us. I'm not in love with glass or concrete or steel, as it takes many years beyond their life cycle to reap the energy given in initial production. I am in love with wood.

And teak [for interior] and cedar [for exterior] and mahogany [to rest my elbows on at the bar] are just sexy as hell. Veneers can go to hell.




Nov 18, 10 3:03 pm  · 
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jplourde

The latest DETAIL magazine is centered on wood and while there's a brilliant article by Matteo Thun [more on that later.]. I wanted to hilight the great project done by the zesty kids at Stuttgart.

http://www.detail.de/artikel_research-pavilion-stuttgart_26858_En.htm

I'll post images, if I can get some nice ones.

A little about it from DETAIL: '' “The starting point of our deliberations was one of the properties of plywood, the potential of which has not been exploited for structural purposes up until now,” Manuel Vollrath explains at a press conference. “What I mean by that is its elasticity, resulting from the inherent stresses in the material.” In just a few sentences, the architectural student sums up the concept on behalf of his design team: “Initially, we had to determine the characteristics of the material by measurements made with experimental rigs; in other words, [we had to find out] to what radii the plywood sheeting could be bent, and what stresses this gave rise to. The second step was to find a geometry that would allow the potential of the material to be exploited in an optimal manner, which would also result in a cogent piece of architecture in terms of both function and design. ''

Nov 19, 10 2:23 pm  · 
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