Innovations in forestry, engineering and design are becoming increasingly entwined. For developments in materials to thrive we need people that undertake radical play and innovation. Interested in what's happening in academia and research, we are curious to discover ways in which the forest and the built environment can be more intimately connected. We want to know how experimentation translates into the commercial world where teams of accountants and regulations often dominate. Our journey took us to the robotics labs of Stuttgart, the radical Design & Make education at Hooke Park, and the forests of Freiburg.
RADICAL REALISM
Where reality and boundary-pushing collide
Whilst robotics, radical pedagogy, and new silviculture are often seen at the extremities of material supply, they provide the base for a range of businesses putting innovation into reality.
Xylotek is just one example of this; bringing together radical computational design and fusing it with expertise in traditional construction via the inspirational work of Charley Brentnall. Born of the experimental world of academic design & build, they take the leading-edge of design into the realism of commercial engineering. Though already familiar with their work, to be able to understand their priorities, their passions for timber engineering, and to visit some of their projects felt like a critical piece of work to join up experimentation and real world action.
Keen to explore the interplay of increased demands for timber throughout the built environment and what that means for biodiverse, rich, resilient forests and timber supplies we pulled together a few stakeholders for a chat.
RAD
ICAL
ENGINEERING
& FORESTRY
To be radical in engineering carries risks in the immediate design, build, and building use. To be radical in forestry requires accepting that the success or failure of your experimentation won’t actually be known until you long become one with the soil. Both forest owner and forest manager must embrace that radical realism affects not only you and the immediate, but also future generations and landscapes.
Though the radical realism of forester Didier Paillerau may seem less immediate, the consequences of his experimentation in real world forestry have immense implications for generations of timber users. Didier took us deep into one of the forests he manages in the Alsace to show us how a new type of silviculture can focus on the way trees want to grow and encourages continuous renewal to cope with changing climate.
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Jenny Ford (Materials in Mind) is a designer and systems thinker who is revolutionary in her creative approach to waste and resource management. Jenny has worked on numerous projects that look beyond the standard procurement of timber and the creation of affordable sustainable timber housing in Bristol. Matt Stevenson (ECOSystems Technologies), a homegrown mass-timber maverick is a passionate and recognised leader in digital construction technology and low carbon building designs.
We discuss Jenny and Matt's work, their unique approaches to timber as a construction material, and the future of timber from where they're sat.
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Kelly Harrison (Whitby Wood) is a timber design and sustainable structures specialist. Kelly has a wealth of experience in hybrid structures, adaptation and retrofit works. James Solly (Format Engineers) is passionate about and experienced in the day-to-day exploitation of digital technology as a creative tool for the realisation of designs.
We talk through what it is that drives Kelly and James to approach and innovate with timber the way that they do. And consider the role that innovation and engineering has in the future of forests.
FUTURE OF TIMBER
PODCAST SERIES
In radically changing times, material supply requires radical innovation. On the one hand the digital revolution provides opportunities to create new value-chains that we could not have imagined twenty years ago. On the other, climate provides challenges that we must manage through forest innovation that could mean the loss of large areas of forest, large volumes of timber, if we get it wrong.
We set out to explore how the fringes of experimentation are leading to real changes within the timber value-chain. Embraced by the worlds of innovation, people opened their doors to join the discussion on how forestry and the built environment can radically reconnect. The robotics in Stuttgart (Institute of Computational Design, ICD) have synergies with the pedagogy at Hooke Park whose own robotics are key to connecting the forest to the building. The silviculture at Hooke Park links to the forests in Alsace through experiments in continuous-cover forestry.
Risk is taken to a new level where these ideas are translated into commercial practice by the likes of Xylotek and Didier. We found an acceptance and a need for risk taking throughout our travels. The radical risk Pollmeier took in focussing on beech, a species desperately in need of new markets to enable the forest to adapt or the work of Vastern Timber in drastically rethinking supply for the thermally modified timber to focus on underutilised species to bring woodland back into management.
THE FRINGES OF
EXPERIMENTATION
Students at Hooke Park, (Dorset)
Prototype house at Hooke Park (Dorset)
Florian Ruge, Black Forest trial site
Large global timber businesses, their innovation, and investment are highly visible. We must remember, however that vast numbers of small to medium sized businesses are often at the heart of construction and forestry. Experimentation, innovation and private sector risk-taking are critical if we want timber use to develop. A small number of passionate researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs are a huge part of forging this reality. How we make this happen in the wider industry and in the context of academic and business pressures is perhaps the most important question that we need to collectively address.
Brimstone, Vastern Timber (Wiltshire)
“I think a lot of design have it the wrong way round. they they design these extraordinary things...But what they forget is the material and where it's coming from. There should be a discussion between the forest and the end user. But at the same time, there should be an anticipation and more, more, flexibility in the choice of tree species.”
Chris Sadd, forester at Hooke Park
HOME
RADICAL
REALISM
BIOREGIONALISM
RESPONSIBILITY
SPECIES
INVESTMENT
EDITORIAL
Copyright © Evolving Forests 2024
Website by Southstik Studio
If you're inspired, challenged by, or curious about any of the themes or discussions the project touches on, we urge you to get in touch. This remains an ongoing conversation, not a static piece of work
supported by
funded by
a project by
JOIN US AS WE EXPLORE THE FUTURE OF TIMBER
WHERE REALITY AND BOUNDARY-PUSHING COLLIDE
EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES IN LOCALISED TIMBER SUPPLY CHAIN
MONEY AND TREES
RESPONSES TO CURRENT AND FUTURE TIMBER SPECIES
MONEY AND TREES
A SUMMARY OF SOME THINGS
HOME
RADICAL REALISM
BIOREGIONALISM
RESPONSIBILITY
SPECIES
INVESTMENT
EDITORIAL
If you're inspired, challenged by, or curious about any of the themes or discussions the project touches on, we urge you to get in touch. This remains an ongoing conversation, not a static piece of work
supported by
funded by
a project by
JOIN US AS WE EXPLORE THE FUTURE OF TIMBER
WHERE REALITY AND BOUNDARY-PUSHING COLLIDE
EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES IN LOCALISED TIMBER SUPPLY CHAIN
QUESTIONING THE BOUNDARIES OF SUPPLY CHAIN DUTIES
RESPONSES TO CURRENT AND FUTURE TIMBER SPECIES
MONEY AND TREES
PROJECT SUMMARY
supported by
funded by
a project by
If you're inspired, challenged by, or curious about any of the themes or discussions the project touches on, we urge you to get in touch. This remains an ongoing conversation, not a static piece of work
If you're inspired, challenged by, or curious about any of the themes or discussions the project touches on, we urge you to get in touch. This remains an ongoing conversation, not a static piece of work
a project by
funded by
supported by
What is the future of timber ?
© 2035 Evolving Forests. Created by Southstik Studio
A project by Evolving Forests
Funded by Built By Nature
Supported by Forestry Commission, Scottish Forestry Trust, Egger