003
Crafts and Technologies
LOCATION
THE AMAZON, BRAZIL
PROGRAM
THESIS PROJECT
YEAR
2017
STATUS
BASIS FOR CURRENT IDEAS FOR CONSTRUCTIONS
The experimental project has its outset in the Amazon and the exploitation of the rainforest, where 70% of the logged wood ends up as waste in the river. The aim is to investigate a sustainable use of wood in construction through an increased yield of the logged trees and the ability of parts being disassembled, repaired and replaced. The 1:1 investigations are within the world of massive wood elements, because it is a yield efficient technique with a high redundancy. Building components such as glulam and massive wood elements, like cross laminated timber (CLT), are contemporary examples of elements composed of many smaller pieces from fast growing trees, but it is also building techniques with little flexibility for disassembling and future changes. The prototypes aim for the yield efficiency of massive wood elements (CLT) while preserving and embracing the natural properties of wood by the absence of glue and screws. The knowledge of Japanese woodwork where joints can expand, contract and be disassembled substitutes glue and screws in order to create living building components that follow the annual climatic circle as well as the building lifetime circle where parts can be repaired, replaced and reused. The prototypes deal with structural protection as well as the ability of being disassemblable. The wooden boards prevent the rain from running down the facade and at the same time the boards are the connecting elements of the whole wall. The grooves and boards are the aesthetic expression of the facade.
The qualities of Japanese wedge joints are merged with the qualities of massive wood elements to create a building system that is interlocked by wedges in angled dovetailed grooves. The elements can be disassembled by pulling the wedges out, and one could imagine that one particular piece in the middle of the wall could be replaced, without taking the whole wall apart. The building system could be used in a construction of plates where grooves and wedges also worked as aesthetic elements telling the story of the building's own making and structural logic.
In order to deal with the annual expansion and contraction of the wood, a series of flexible jointing parts has been investigated. The metal brackets clamp the wooden pieces together and are made of spring steel, so they can expand and contract according to the annual movements of the wood. The jointing parts of rubber cylinders has the same flexible properties, and is at the same time a highly local material of the rainforest.
